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• read more about Help shape our research priorities: third and final survey now open!
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  Help shape our research priorities: third and final survey now open!

  14 February 2020

  We have always been clear that the answer to ‘what works’ in children’s social care will come from those closest to it  – from social workers, from young people and care experienced people, from parents and carers, from senior leaders, from academics, charities and private sector providers. This is why we want to ensure all […]

  
• read more about Our review of family group meetings – what’s next?
  Blog

  Our review of family group meetings – what’s next?

  13 February 2020

  Today we’ve published a new systematic review of family group meetings. This review – which looks at all the published evidence on the effectiveness of a variety of forms of meetings that aim to involve young people and their families in decision making – has been conducted by our colleagues at Cardiff University. Its main […]

  
• read more about What does the international evidence tell us about the outcomes of family group conferences?
  Blog

  What does the international evidence tell us about the outcomes of family group conferences?

  13 February 2020

  In important meetings about children, sharing decision-making with family members is a key way of upholding family rights to participation. This approach is also widely assumed to help prevent children coming into state care, because better involvement of the wider family should help identify alternative protective options.  There isn’t just one route to involving families […]

  
• read more about New systematic review of shared decision-making meetings
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  New systematic review of shared decision-making meetings

  13 February 2020

  New systematic review of shared decision-making family meetings finds mixed evidence of effectiveness in reducing entry to care  A new systematic review of shared decision-making family meetings, such as Family Group Conferencing, Family Group Decision Making and Family Unity Meetings, has found there is mixed evidence as to whether these interventions reduce entry or re-entry […]

  
• read more about Join our Research Ethics Committee
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  Join our Research Ethics Committee

  12 February 2020

  We are seeking to recruit seven to nine Research Ethics Committee (REC) members to sit on an ethics committee which reviews research proposals for projects to be delivered or commissioned by the WWCSC, providing an advisory role to the Centre. Whether you are an experienced academic with expertise in research with young people, or you […]

  
• read more about We’re recruiting!
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  We’re recruiting!

  12 February 2020

  We are looking to recruit two new roles from April 2020. Research Director The What Works for Children’s Social Care is looking to recruit a Research Director to lead our research team. The team will lead the centre’s analytical work, which covers research relating to a wide variety of outcomes for young people and their […]

  
• read more about Announcing our new partners for multi-agency work
  Blog

  Announcing our new partners for multi-agency work

  31 January 2020

  I am excited to be writing this blog post as the Head of Practice at What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC).  I joined the centre in January and I am happy to announce that the practice team is growing and extending our ability to talk to social workers and others from the sector.   As […]

  
• read more about The Ongoing Debate Around Machine Learning
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  The Ongoing Debate Around Machine Learning

  31 January 2020

  It’s been almost a year since we first announced that we would be conducting research on the use of machine learning in children’s social care. Both the topic itself, and our decision to research it were controversial.  Many people are uncomfortable with the idea that opaque algorithms processing large quantities of data – often collected […]

  
• read more about Ethics review recommends cautious, thoughtful and inclusive approach to using machine learning in children’s social care
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  Ethics review recommends cautious, thoughtful and inclusive approach to using machine learning in children’s social care

  30 January 2020

  A review carried out by the University of Oxford’s Rees Centre and The Alan Turing Institute for What Works for Children’s Social Care finds that there are substantial reasons to be concerned about the ethics of using these techniques, and that these can only be mitigated through care and transparency in their use. What Works […]

  
• read more about A year older, a year wiser
  Blog

  A year older, a year wiser

  29 January 2020

  It’s now been a year since the permanent team at What Works for Children’s Social Care took over from the incubator team – and a year since I said on this blog that we would “Start as we mean to go on”. It’s been six months since I reported that we were off to a […]

  
• read more about Call for partners for our new workplace wellbeing project
  News

  Call for partners for our new workplace wellbeing project

  27 January 2020

  We are still accepting applications to participate in our new multi-agency workplace wellbeing project

  
• read more about We’re looking for someone to chair our research ethics committee
  News

  We’re looking for someone to chair our research ethics committee

  24 January 2020

  Do you have an interest in, and experience of, managing ethical issues in research? What Works for Children’s Social Care is looking for a Chair for our new Research Ethics Committee. The Research Ethics Committee (REC) is responsible for reviewing the research proposals of WWCSC to identify ethical considerations and make recommendations on whether to […]