CENTRE FOR CHILD AND FAMILY RESEARCH NEWSLETTER
AUTUMN 2015
Welcome to the October edition of the Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR) Newsletter.
NEW PROJECTS
TwentyTwenty
TwentyTwenty work with disadvantaged and disengaged young people, aged 11-24 through two
Lifeskills Centres based in Loughborough and Leicester. Their delivery model uses a tailored mix of
employability focused education, practical tasks and challenges, and tailored personal support. This
model is underpinned by a theory of change which posits that to thrive, young people need the right
mix of positive people to relate to, positive opportunities to develop skills, and positive places to learn.
Young people are viewed as individuals to be developed rather than problems to be solved, and the
stated aim for each of their service users is that they will: develop self-belief and motivation, achieve in
education, learn work-ready skills and attitudes, and gain and maintain employment.
Professor Jo Aldridge and Clare Lushey from CCFR are undertaking an evaluation of Twenty Twenty. The
main aim of the evaluation is to work with the students in the Loughborough and Leicester Lifeskills
Centres, in order to test the efficacy of Twenty Twenty’s theory of change, the effectiveness of the
delivery model in achieving the desired outcomes, and the organisational processes that might support
or hinder this. For further information on the Twenty Twenty project, click here.
Contact: Clare Lushey: c.j.lushey@lboro.ac.uk
RESuLT
As part of the Department for Education’s Social Care Innovation Programme, CCFR is working in
partnership with the University of Bristol and Ipsos MORI to carry out an evaluation of whole team
training for children’s residential care (RESuLT – introduced by the National Implementation Service).
RESuLT is a 12-week, whole-team training course for residential child care workers who are looking
after adolescents, drawing heavily upon the application of social learning theory. A process, impact and
economic evaluation of the programme involving mixed, quantitative and qualitative methods is being
carried out with a final project report in March 2016. Further information about RESuLT is available
here: RESuLT Programme.
Contact Lisa Holmes: l.j.holmes@lboro.ac.uk
This is the fourth evaluation that CCFR are carrying out as part of the DfE Innovation Programme,
information about the other projects was included in the summer newsletter and can be found here:
Summer Newsletter.
Adoption Outcomes in Australia
Harriet Ward is working jointly with Barnardo’s Australia and University of Technology, Sydney, on a
study exploring outcomes of adoption in Australia. This study offers an opportunity to follow up all 210
children adopted through the Barnardo’s Find-a-Family programme between 1987 and 2013 and to
explore the outcomes of their experiences. The programme model is based on principles of open
adoption, in which there is ongoing face-to-face contact between the birth family and child. This study
offers a unique opportunity to explore the advantages and disadvantages of such an arrangement,
about which little is known.
The study is important because it has the potential to contribute to international debates concerning
the most appropriate care to offer children who cannot live with their birth families because of abuse
and neglect. It will provide new data concerning the outcomes of adopting children from care, including
the perceptions of the children and young people themselves. It will contribute to ongoing debates
concerning the value of contact arrangements with birth families and the contexts within which
continuing contact should be promoted. It will also provide unique information about the outcomes of
adoption in Australia, including the adoption of a small number of Aboriginal children, and this will
inform national policy development in this area.
Contact Harriet Ward: h.ward@lboro.ac.uk
UPDATES
The Cost Calculator for Children’s Services (CCfCS)
The work to develop the Cost Calculator for Children’s Services (CCfCS) is continuing. This awardwinning purpose-designed software estimates the costs of social care processes and placements for
looked after children. The CCfCS is currently being updated to reflect current practice in England and
beta testing of the revised version of the CCfCS has now begun. Following the beta testing the CCfCS
will be available in England in late 2015 as a free download for all 152 Local Authorities to use. As part
of this work we have an ongoing, and growing research and development programme, including
replication of the tool for child welfare services in Scotland and the US.
For further enquiries about the CCfCS please contact visit Cost Calculator or email
CostCalculator@lboro.ac.uk
Therapeutic Residential Care: International Summit
Funding has been secured from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to hold an international summit meeting
focused on Therapeutic Residential Care. The summit will be held at Loughborough University from 2729 April 2016. The summit’s discussions will focus on the role and use of therapeutic residential care for
children and will provide an opportunity to bring together invited experts to explore how therapeutic
residential care can be used as an integral part of a child’s care journey in close collaboration with
family and other community resources. The summit will build on existing collaborative work in
partnership with Jim Whittaker (Professor of Social Work Emeritus, University of Washington) and Jorge
F. del Valle (Director of the Child and Family Research Group and Professor in the Department of
Psychology, University of Oviedo)
The discussions will be designed to critically reflect on the current evidence base and future direction of
therapeutic residential care services, with a focus on four key topics:
(1) What current research says about children’s therapeutic residential care as a key support to
vulnerable children, young people and their families?
(2) Which innovative programmes and practices show promise for cross-national application?
(3) What is the place of therapeutic residential care across the various service systems for children
and young people with complex needs?
(4) How should children’s therapeutic residential care be designed, further evaluated and funded?
For further information please contact Lisa Holmes: l.j.holmes@lboro.ac.uk
More news >>
CCFR EVENTS
The Cost Calculator for Children’s Services (CCfCS)
CCFR have been demonstrating and presenting the CCfCS over the past few months as momentum
grows and we approach re-launch. The team will be demonstrating the CCfCS to colleagues from
Loughborough University on Wednesday 4th November. The demonstration will outline the tool and
underpinning research. The session will also examine the development of a standardised conceptual
framework to explore the cost effectiveness of the public sector, providing examples of how the tool
and the analyses that it produces, have been used for child welfare policy and practice.
In early October Lisa Holmes also presented the research underpinning the Cost Calculator and some of
the key messages for practice at a seminar held at the School for Policy Studies at Bristol University.
Further information can be found here: School for Policy Studies, Bristol University.
The key findings from the research in relation to permanence for looked after children were also
presented as part of Coram’s ‘The Challenge of achieving permanence for children in care’ event on
22nd October. Lisa Holmes gave a presentation on the costs associated with different permanence
options. Further information can be found here: Coram.
More events >>
CCFR RECENT PUBLICATIONS
The evaluation of Head, Heart, Hands: introducing social pedagogy into UK foster care
The Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR) in partnership with the Colebrooke Centre for
Evidence and Implementation have been commissioned by the Fostering Network to evaluate the
impact of a national demonstration programme (Head, Hands and Heart: introducing social pedagogy
into UK foster care. The four year evaluation (due to complete in October 2016) will explore the impact
of the programme on children and young people in foster care, their foster carers, and the practitioners
who support them, and the effects on – and of - the wider system of care in each local area is being
explored using a new and innovative approach underpinned by the emerging field of implementation
science. The team have recently published two interim reports on the programme. The first explores
the potential economic impact, and sustainability of Head, Heart, Hands. The second report draws on
data gathered from a sample of foster carers and the children and young people placed with them, to
provide an overview of their views and experiences of the programme between July 2014 and July
2015. To read a copy of the report, click here: HHH Project.
More publications >>