RECENT

• read more about Bolton Council undertakes new project to provide supervision to Designated Safeguarding Leads
  News

  Bolton Council undertakes new project to provide supervision to Designated Safeguarding Leads

  7 August 2019

  A new pilot project providing supervision to Designated Safeguarding Leads in Bolton’s primary schools will begin shortly. What Works for Children’s Social Care and Bolton Council, today announced the launch of a new project which will test a new model for supporting schools in their duties to safeguard children and young people. As part of […]

  
• read more about Social work decision-making: a randomised controlled trial of forecasting
  News

  Social work decision-making: a randomised controlled trial of forecasting

  31 July 2019

  There has been a welcome focus recently on how to improve the quality of social work practice skills, to ensure that workers are supported and equipped to engage collaboratively with families and build trusting relationships, particularly in the context of risk to children – and these aspects of practice are critical. Yet as well as […]

  
• read more about Signs of Safety: a new review of evaluations by Baginsky and colleagues
  Blog

  Signs of Safety: a new review of evaluations by Baginsky and colleagues

  22 July 2019

  This month sees the publication of a research paper by Mary Baginsky, Jo Moriarty and Jill Manthorpe in the Journal of Children’s Services, assessing the existing evidence base around Signs of Safety. This review differs in its approach to the ‘realist review’ of Signs of Safety conducted by our research partners at Cardiff University, which […]

  
• read more about What a difference six months makes
  Blog

  What a difference six months makes

  19 July 2019

  Six months ago this week, I walked into the What Works Centre’s office on my first day as Executive Director – excited about the work ahead, and daunted by the scale of the challenges in front of me. On the same day, we published my first blog, in which I stated our intention to “Start […]

  
• read more about Making the Social Work Health Check work for PSWs
  Blog

  Making the Social Work Health Check work for PSWs

  17 July 2019

  As a Principal Social Worker (PSW), I know that completing the annual Social Work Health Check survey required by the LGA’s ‘Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England’ can be a time-consuming and fraught exercise. This feeling is often compounded by the feeling that the findings just aren’t as useful as they could, or […]

  
• read more about Making meetings meaningful: Good practice when involving families in decision-making
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  Making meetings meaningful: Good practice when involving families in decision-making

  12 July 2019

  The driving purpose of the partnership between What Works for Children’s Social Care and CASCADE at Cardiff University is that outcomes can be improved by the use of evidence-based approaches by practitioners. This has guided our latest report – a review of approaches that involve parents and children in key decision-making meetings. We knew from that […]

  
• read more about Interested in being the Chair of our Ethics Committee?
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  Interested in being the Chair of our Ethics Committee?

  10 July 2019

  What Works for Children’s Social Care is looking for a chair for our 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 proceed with and/or amend the research. The main purpose the REC Chair is to provide […]

  
• read more about Announcing a new project: Mockingbird Family Model
  News

  Announcing a new project: Mockingbird Family Model

  4 July 2019

  A month ago we announced an ambitious programme of scaling interventions and undertaking research in partnership with the Department for Education, “Supporting Families, Investing in Practice”, to evaluate Family Group Conferences (FGC) and iterations on the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) models which have shown promising evidence. Today, we’re excited to announce an expansion […]

  
• read more about Announcing our Practice In Need of Evidence Partners
  News

  Announcing our Practice In Need of Evidence Partners

  2 July 2019

  You might remember earlier this year we published a blog about our Practice In Need of Evidence (PINE) programme. If you missed it, here’s a quick recap – we know excellent practice is happening all over the country but without strong evidence of improved outcomes. Our partners have talked about the need for more evidence […]

  
• read more about Here we are, the same, only a bit shorter and a bit easier on the eye
  Blog

  Here we are, the same, only a bit shorter and a bit easier on the eye

  17 June 2019

  Whenever I think about rebranding my mind is drawn back to an advert from 2008 for the Norwich Union, announcing their rebranding as Aviva, featuring famous people who had also changed their names. As Ringo Starr (formerly Richard Starkey) told us in that advert, sometimes a change in name lets us become who we really […]

  
• read more about Intensive Family Preservation Services: a promising way of keeping families together
  News

  Intensive Family Preservation Services: a promising way of keeping families together

  10 June 2019

  With the number of children being looked after in the care system at an all-time high, evidence that an intervention is effective in safely reducing the need for children to enter care is good news. This is why we are so delighted to share our latest review of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS). IFPS aim […]

  
• read more about Supervision: what is it good for?
  Blog

  Supervision: what is it good for?

  29 May 2019

  Our latest blog explores how we are addressing the evidence gap surrounding supervision in social work practice - getting to the bottom of who it works for, when, and under what conditions.