Question group
Carers, stability and permanence
Questions in this group:
Carers, stability and permanence
Residential Care: Does the financial model of the provider (e.g. Local Authority run, charitable or privately run) have any impact on stability of caring environment or turnover of staff in children’s residential care?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Residential care: How do children and young people in residential caring environments, including secure care, describe the impact of staff continuity or turnover, and what aspects of practice make the greatest difference to their experience of stability?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Residential care: To what extent do levels of relational continuity within residential caring environments, including secure care, (e.g. consistency of key workers, staff teams, or trusted adults) vary across services, and how are these patterns associated with children’s wellbeing, safety, and longer‑term outcomes?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Residential care: How can continuity of care and relationships be meaningfully measured for children while experiencing care in residential and secure care, where a home may remain stable but staff caring for the child may change?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Children experiencing care at home with their parents: What changes to support, relationships, and system conditions do children and their families describe as having worked to improve stability, safety, and wellbeing of children who experience care while living at home with their parents?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Children experiencing care at home with their parents: How consistent is practice and support for children experiencing care at home across local authorities, and what support do families and social workers say is key in maintaining safety and stability?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Children experiencing care at home with their parents: To what extent do children experiencing care at home with their parents experience differences in outcomes to children in other caring environments across domains beyond education, and what mechanisms help explain any observed differences?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Stability and continuity of social workers: Where a change of social worker is unavoidable, what transition arrangements, supports, or ways of working have been most successful in maintaining children’s sense of stability, trust, and continuity of care?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Stability and continuity of social workers: How often do children experiencing the ‘care system’ experience a change of social worker, and how does this vary by local authority, age, caring environment, legal status, length of episode, and other relevant characteristics, including protected characteristics?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: How does the impact of moves between homes whilst in the care system on developmental outcomes vary across different stages of childhood, particularly for infants and very young children?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: How do stability, wellbeing, and longer-term outcomes differ across caring environments (foster care, kinship care, residential care, at home (including distinctions between formal and informal kinship care arrangements)), after accounting for children’s needs, and how does this vary depending on the age, stage at which entry into the care system occurs, and number of moves between homes experienced?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: What factors influence decision-making between kinship care, foster care, supervision at home, and private law arrangements (including Section 11 orders), and how consistent are these decisions across Scotland?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: What are the main reasons for moves between homes among children experiencing care, and how commonly are these moves deemed ‘avoidable’? How does this differ across caring environments?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026