How do we best support children, young people and their families within the social care system and prevent poor outcomes, including recruiting, retaining and training our workforce?
Background
A sizeable minority of children and young people in England face a significant range of vulnerabilities and disadvantages. These include those already known to children’s social care, children in need, those eligible for free school meals (FSM) because of low family income, those with SEND, in particular those who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and those who attend Alternative Provision. Given the human, economic and social cost of poor performance in this area, we are seeking evidence on the best ways to improve outcomes for these children and young people, before issues become acute and require more significant intervention
Next steps
If you would like to discuss previous, ongoing or potential research into any of the areas in this document, please contact research.engagement@education.gov.uk.
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Related UKRI funded projects
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Looked-after children in Wales: An analysis of the backgrounds of children entering public care
The doctoral research around which my fellowship is centred explored the differences between local authorities in Wales in the rates at which they place children in out of home care, referred to as being a 'looked after'...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on looked-after children in Wales, not specifically addressing the broader social care system.
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Comparing health outcomes for care experienced children and children in the general population in Scotland using linked administrative data
Children who are in the care of their local authority (care experienced children, CEC) are one of the most vulnerable groups of people in the society. In 2017 approximately 15,000 children in Scotland were visited by soc...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on health outcomes for care experienced children in Scotland, not directly addressing workforce training and prevention of poor outcomes.
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Does local authority care make a difference to the lives of vulnerable children? Longitudinal analyses of a retrospective electronic cohort
The proposed research aims to examine, over time, education and healthcare outcomes of children who are looked after (CLA) by the local authority (i.e. in care). Existing studies that use only one point in time have show...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
Fully relevant as it specifically examines the education and healthcare outcomes of looked after children and addresses the impact of care on reducing poor outcomes.