Find out more about our upcoming events and webinars, and how you can sign up, on this page. For a list of past events, visit our archive.
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Webinar: Can early years support impact children's social care?
There is high demand on children's social care (CSC) from families with young children: one in five children will be referred to CSC services before age five. Given these pressures, understanding whether early years programmes can reduce demand is crucial. This webinar will feature findings from two studies to measure the impact of place-based early years services for families of 0-4 year olds living in disadvantaged areas in Wales and Northern Ireland. Using de‑identified administrative data covering all children born in Wales and Northern Ireland, we examine the outcomes of children born in areas that received Flying Start or Sure Start services. We leveraged interesting policy features in both programmes which created groups of identical disadvantaged areas -- some of which received early years services whilst others did not. This creates natural comparison areas and allows us to see what the effects of being born in a Sure Start or Flying Start area are. Our work collectively provides rare comparative evidence across two systems with different national contexts and approaches to early years. We will discuss findings from both studies on the impact of these policies on children's social care at a time when social care systems face rising pressures and high rates of intervention for under‑5s.
Online, Teams
12:00
- 13/10/2026
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Webinar: Findings from an all-Wales qualitative study on post-child abuse service access (SERENA)
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 26 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.
Online, Teams
13:00
- 21/10/2026
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Webinar: Professional perspectives on using the Wales Safeguarding Repository
The Wales Safeguarding Repository (WSR) is a digital repository of safeguarding reviews from Wales. Safeguarding reviews in Wales historically fell under separate processes depending on the type of victim or perpetrator, for example, Child Practice Reviews, Adult Practice Reviews, Domestic Homicide Reviews, and Mental Health Homicide Reviews. However, these reviews often held common themes and sometimes multiple reviews were undertaken for a single incident. In response to this, Welsh Government initiated the Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR), which encompasses all categories of safeguarding review. SUSR Statutory Guidance highlights that professionals should access the WSR for relevant information at all stages of the SUSR process. This webinar provides an opportunity to learn how this relatively new safeguarding review system is working in practice, drawing upon professional insights from an experienced SUSR Chair & Reviewer and the academic lead of the WSR. Examples from recent SUSRs will showcase how the WSR is facilitating higher quality reviews and more robust recommendations.
Online, Teams
13:00
- 08/12/2026
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Siblings Raising Siblings: The Invisible Kinship Carers
When a child cannot safely live with their parents, kinship care can keep children with people who love them, rather than them being fostered or adopted by people they do not know. There has been an increasing awareness of how important kinship care is and the need for more recognition and support, particularly in England with the new Kinship Care Strategy being implemented across Local Authorities. People often assume kinship carers are all grandparents. But anyone who is connected with a child can become a kinship carer. This spotlight webinar, opening #KinshipCareWeek2026 will focus on the experiences and stories of older brothers and sisters who become kinship carers for their younger siblings, exploring what it means to raise your own sibling, where the gaps are in understanding and services, and how sibling kinship care intersects with young carers, being care experienced, and stereotypes around the capacity and capabilities of young people more generally.
Online, Teams
13:00
- 05/10/2026
Check out our latest conference.
Informal Carers Conference 2026
‘Informal’ carers are people who look after relatives, friends or others in an unpaid or unsupported capacity. They span the life course and include young carers, informal kinship carers of children and young people, and adults who care for those…
ExChange Wales brings leading researchers together with practitioners and service users to share expertise, research evidence and care experiences.
Through our conferences, workshops, lectures and seminars, ExChange provides free, high-quality training to support the ongoing development of social care professionals across Wales. Attracting leading national speakers, together we learn and advise on research, impacting both policy and practice. Our events and resources enrich skills while foregrounding the lived experience of care-experienced people.
We have a range of ways that you can work with ExChange. If you wish to host an ExChange workshop, webinar, podcast or blog, simply contact us.
