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read more about Reading referrals and forecasting the future: how difficult is it to know what’s likely to happen next in social work?
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Reading referrals and forecasting the future: how difficult is it to know what’s likely to happen next in social work?
16 January 2020Child and family social workers in England make crucial decisions every day, affecting the lives of many thousands of children, parents and other family members. Good decision-making in social work almost always involves working collaboratively with families and sharing responsibility for making decisions. Yet it also involves making professional judgements about future harm and the […]
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read more about New research shows the potential for improving social work decision-making
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New research shows the potential for improving social work decision-making
16 January 2020A pilot project involving almost 300 social workers found that some established approaches used to improve forecasting in other fields may make a positive difference for social workers too – but that others may not be so effective. What Works for Children’s Social Care, in association with its research partners at CASCADE, Cardiff University, today […]
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read more about Numbers plus
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Numbers plus
19 December 2019This month has been dominated by numbers – polls, seat counts, demographics and so on. As someone who’s spent most of his life thinking about data and evaluation, this has been interesting to follow. Early next year, we’ll begin publishing our own numbers – the results of our study on forecasting, the indicative evidence of […]
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read more about Why evaluate?
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Why evaluate?
28 November 2019Last week we were at the National Children and Adult Services conference in Bournemouth. As well as attending the conference, and talking with people visiting the stand of our partner the Social Care Institute of Excellence, we were pleased to host a session on the morning of the last day of the conference. The session, […]
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read more about We’re recruiting!
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We’re recruiting!
7 November 2019We are looking for a Communications and Events Officer to join our growing team. This role will be responsible for supporting and implementing the communications and marketing activity for WWCSC. You will work day to day with the Centre’s team and with teams of collaborators, particularly our research partner at Cardiff University. More info and […]
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read more about How do we know we’re doing it right? Evaluating multi-agency working
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How do we know we’re doing it right? Evaluating multi-agency working
7 November 2019Our Practice in Need of Evidence programme (PINE) is well underway with our first cohort of nine partners working on conducting their own evaluations – with our support – of their promising practice. Based on the fantastic response to this first round, and really positive initial feedback from the participants, we’ve launched another round – […]
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read more about Increasing engagement with FDAC: An open call to develop light-touch interventions for families
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Increasing engagement with FDAC: An open call to develop light-touch interventions for families
5 November 2019We are pleased to announce that we are looking for an organisation to help design ways to increase parental engagement in Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC), as part of a new strand of the Supporting Families: Investing in Practice programme. The recent review of the existing literature by CASCADE at Cardiff University suggests that […]
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read more about Across borders
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Across borders
30 October 2019With England set to face South Africa this weekend in a Rugby World Cup final that almost featured Wales, the differences between two of the nations that make up Great Britain have been at the front of coverage – and having gone to school just a few miles from the Severn Bridge, these sporting rivalries […]
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read more about Call for applications: Multi-agency working with children’s social care
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Call for applications: Multi-agency working with children’s social care
23 October 2019We are delighted to be seeking participants for the extension of our Practice In Need of Evidence (PINE) programme, examining multi-agency partnerships working to improve outcomes in children’s social care. Applications can be from any statutory agencies involved in multi-agency partnership work to improve outcomes for children who are engaged with children’s social care. The […]
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read more about Local authorities participating in Mockingbird Family Model trial announced
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Local authorities participating in Mockingbird Family Model trial announced
8 October 2019What Works for Children’s Social Care, in association with the Department for Education, is delighted to announce the launch of the Mockingbird Family Model across ten new local authorities, as part of ‘Supporting Families: Investing in Practice’. This programme will help hundreds more foster families with practical and emotional support and advice, helping them tackle […]
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read more about Local authorities announced for expansion of Schwartz Rounds trial
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Local authorities announced for expansion of Schwartz Rounds trial
4 October 2019What Works for Children’s Social Care, in association with our research partners at Cascade, Cardiff University, is delighted to announce that our on-going project evaluating the use of Schwartz Rounds in children’s social care will be expanded to five additional local authorities. The project will begin shortly in: Bath and North East Somerset Council Derby […]
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read more about Is evidence like a GPS?
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Is evidence like a GPS?
30 September 2019This month, I was at a conference and heard an analogy of machine learning – trying to use raw computer power and a lot of data to predict what’s likely to happen next – being described as like a GPS in your car. The speaker, a sceptic about the value of this approach, said they […]