Webinar: Findings from an all-Wales qualitative study on post-child abuse service access (SERENA)

Abstract

This webinar will present emerging findings from an all-Wales qualitative case study, and associated European literature review, within the SERENA consortium project.

SERENA (Assessing and improving access to health and social care SErvices for children RENdered vulnerable by Abuse) is a Horizon Europe-funded consortium project bringing together research from 12 countries across Europe. The team in Cardiff University, alongside partners in Denmark and France, are responsible for mapping existing services for children who have experienced maltreatment and identifying barriers for accessing these services. This has been undertaken using two methods: (1) A systematic literature review of studies across three European countries (UK, Denmark and France) with the aim to understand more about existing research on service availability and barriers, and (2) qualitative interviews with adults who experienced maltreatment as children, and professionals who provide post-maltreatment support services in Wales, Denmark and France.

Key findings from the literature review and emerging findings from the Welsh interview study will be discussed, alongside methods, public involvement work, and future plans for the research.

Biographies

Dr Jon Ablitt is a Research Associate currently based in DECIPHer and CARE at Cardiff University. He has conducted social care research in the areas of child criminal exploitation, post-abuse support, police involvement in schools, and looked after children’s transitions into adulthood. A sociologist by training, he has expertise in interactionist, ethnomethodological, and ethnographic research.

Dr Sarah Thompson is a Research Associate currently based in DECIPHer and SCALE at Cardiff University. Her research interests focus on the topics of social care, of children in foster/kinship care and neurodivergence and children’s social care. Sarah has a background in both psychology and children’s social care research and has expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.