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 2019A 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 2019There 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 2019This 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 2019Six 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 2019As 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
Blog
Making meetings meaningful: Good practice when involving families in decision-making
12 July 2019The 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?
News
Interested in being the Chair of our Ethics Committee?
10 July 2019What 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 2019A 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 2019You 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 2019Whenever 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 2019With 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 2019Supervision is widely considered to be the cornerstone of good social work practice (2009 Laming Progress Report). Yet gaps in the evidence base mean we cannot claim with confidence that supervision consistently helps children and families, and we do not know what kinds of supervision might be more helpful (and more cost-effective) than others. A […]