This event will detail recent efforts to co-develop a best practice charter, aimed at creating meaningful change for parents in and leaving local authority care. Co-produced with care experienced parents, practitioners and policy makers, the charter is aimed at Corporate Parents; professionals with responsibility for supporting young people in state care. In Wales, corporate parents are directed to seek the same outcomes for children in local authority care as any good parent would seek for their own child. This event will share the best practice charter and wider resources developed about this important topic including discussion on research conduction in this area by Dr Louise Roberts.  Parents in and leaving care will support the development of this event.

The webinar forms part of the annual Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science.

Time: 11am – 12pm

Date: 9th November 2021

Presenters: Dr. Louise Roberts and Rachael Vaughan, Cardiff University.

Assumptions about what is best for children with social care involvement are often made by professionals, yet few studies have systematically asked youth about their perceptions and even fewer studies have explored how their perspectives may change over time. This study, Fostering Healthy Futures, asked 200 preadolescent children a series of questions about the difficulties and helpfulness of placement in foster care and whether their lives would have been be better/the same/worse if they had never been placed. They also rated how they felt about the amount of information they got from their social workers and whether or not they had enough input about decisions that affected their lives while in foster care. Study participants were then re-interviewed approximately 10 years later when they were between the ages of 18-22 and asked the same questions. In adulthood, participants also responded to a qualitative question that asked how they would change the foster care system.

Join us to learn how perceptions may have changed over time and whether they differed as a function of gender, race, ethnicity, type of maltreatment and placement, ACEs, emancipation/reunification, and baseline mental health functioning. The talk will also share participants’ ideas for improving children’s social care.

Time: 1pm – 2pm

Date: 11^th November 2021

Presenter: Prof. Heather Taussig, University of Denver

This presentation will explore evidence collected by the Longitudinal Transitions Study: a 11 year longitudinal qualitative study which has followed the post-school experiences of 80 young people with vision impairment and their progression into the labour market. During this session we will focus on the different pathways pursued by the young people, giving consideration to the various enablers and barriers which have impacted upon their journeys. In particular we will consider how well prepared the young people felt for life after school, and for fulfilling their potential. 

The Longitudinal Transitions Study has been conducted by researchers at Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research, School of Education, University of Birmingham. The study has been funded by Thomas Pocklington Trust, Nuffield Foundation and Royal National Institute of Blind People. More information is available at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/victar/research/longitudinal-transitions-study/index.aspx

Time: 1pm – 2pm

Date: 17th November 2021

Presenter: Rachel Hewett, University of Birmingham