www.checkyourthinking.org developed from Cardiff University research, brings together resources and materials created from research and partnership work with young people, as well as foster carers, and social care and allied professionals. It builds on the outcomes of research led by Dr Sophie Hallett in the Keeping Safe? report which used case records to track a cohort of 205 children involved with social services in one Welsh local authority, alongside involvement from young people, social workers, foster carers and residential workers.
The resources are for use by all those working with and caring for young people. They are designed as reflective tools to help people ‘check their thinking’ about key issues in safeguarding young people from exploitation, harms and other abuses. They can be used by individuals to help support them in their work, by providing the opportunity to reflect on their own understandings and practices. Or they can be used as a way of facilitating discussion and sharing of views within and across teams. The website, launched on 1st July 2021, premieres a new animated film developed in partnership with young people from Voices from Care and is a way of letting young people know that they have been heard, that their voices have contributed to new policy and that support is available. This work was commissioned by Welsh Government, the original research was funded by the Welsh Government through Health and Care Research Wales.
