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What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC) and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) merged in December 2022 and are now Foundations, the What Works Centre for Children & Families. You can visit our new website here. 

This website will remain live for now but is not being updated. Here you can find research and work we carried out as WWCSC before the new organisation was formally launched in June 2023.

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  • read more about Family Group Conferences – what does the evidence say?
    Blog

    Family Group Conferences – what does the evidence say?

    2 April 2019
    March saw the publication of an important study – a randomised controlled trial (RCT) carried out in the Netherlands testing the effectiveness of Family Group Conferences. This is important for two reasons. First, Family Group Conferences, which bring family members together to discuss a case and to try and posit solutions around the time (in […]
  • read more about Research shows preventative interventions have a positive effect on children’s mental health – but how strong is the evidence behind this research?
    Blog

    Research shows preventative interventions have a positive effect on children’s mental health – but how strong is the evidence behind this research?

    1 April 2019
    While there is a great deal of research out there on Children’s Social Care, it’s not always clear how strong the evidence is which it is based on. Evaluating the strength of this existing evidence forms part of the core mission of the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care and their research partner CASCADE. […]
  • read more about Practice In Need of Evidence
    Blog

    Practice In Need of Evidence

    29 March 2019
    The last thing social work needs is another acronym, but old habits die hard. I’m writing to introduce PINE – Practice in Need of Evidence, our latest programme to build the evidence base in social care. Dismissing thoughts of air-freshener and 90s furniture, PINE is an offer of support to take promising practice on a […]
  • read more about Reporting back from our deliberative forum
    Blog

    Reporting back from our deliberative forum

    28 March 2019
    Last night we hosted a deliberative forum on machine learning at King’s College London, bringing together speakers from the worlds of data science, academia, and social work to try and shine a light on a topic which has already been the subject of a great deal of discussion. We convened the event as part of […]
  • read more about Steps on a journey
    Blog

    Steps on a journey

    20 March 2019
    In his monthly blog, Michael shares the steps made so far at the What Works Centre
  • read more about World Social Work Day 2019
    Blog

    World Social Work Day 2019

    15 March 2019
    A short film from the What Works Centre to celebrate World Social Work Day, 2019.
  • read more about We’re publishing protocols for our research
    Blog

    We’re publishing protocols for our research

    14 March 2019
    The What Works Centre is publishing research plans for all of its projects before work gets started on them - Louise Reid explains why.
  • read more about “With data, as with social work practice, context is key.”
    Blog

    “With data, as with social work practice, context is key.”

    13 March 2019
    Having last month talked about his love of his new role at the What Works Centre, Michael changes tack to talk about something he seriously dislikes - the misuse of data and statistics.
  • read more about Call for Evaluation Advisory Group members
    News

    Call for Evaluation Advisory Group members

    8 March 2019
    The What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care is recruiting an Evaluation Advisory Group. This group will help the Centre to develop and evolve its approach to evaluations in children’s social care.
  • read more about We are recruiting!
    News

    We are recruiting!

    8 March 2019
    The centre is recruiting a Products and Services Manager as well as two researchers – a Quantitative Researcher and a Qualitative Researcher. To become part of the team, click on the links below to find out more and apply.
  • read more about Flagship research programme aims for happier, healthier professionals
    News

    Flagship research programme aims for happier, healthier professionals

    4 March 2019
    The What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care is inviting local authorities in England to collaborate with us in one of our flagship projects for 2019 that aims to help support social workers and their managers to be happier and healthier at work. The call follows feedback from over 25 partners who we have worked […]
  • read more about It’s all about relationships
    Blog

    It’s all about relationships

    1 March 2019
    Says Centre’s new Head of Practice and Social Worker, Anna Bacchoo