We’re delighted to announce the launch of Experimental Methods and Children’s Social Care: The Contribution of Randomised Controlled Trials, co-edited by David Westlake from CASCADE, alongside Michael Sanders (School for Government, King’s College London) and Vanessa Hirneis (The Policy Institute, King’s College London). Published in October 2025, this timely and insightful volume brings together leading… Read More
CASCADE Parents Research Advisory Group Wins Public Involvement Award
We’re thrilled to share that the CASCADE Parents Research Advisory Group has won the Public Involvement Award at the 2025 Health and Care Research Wales Awards. The awards were announced at the tenth annual Health and Care Research Wales conference, held on 16 October at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The event brought together researchers, practitioners,… Read More
What we still don’t know about kinship care
All of these examples, and many more, exist because of kinship families being an ordinary part of family life, particularly in times of difficulty. Kinship care is much more prevalent than foster care or adoption, but we know less about these families. For example, we don’t really know how many children are in kinship care… Read More
Sharing and learning internationally
It has been an exciting summer of international collaborations for CASCADE, with trips to China, Italy, Germany and Denmark. Most recently, Professor Donald Forrester and Dr Lorna Stabler travelled to Copenhagen to deliver a summer school for the Centre for Better Childhoods at University College Copenhagen. Centre for Better Childhoods The Centre for Better Childhoods… Read More
What is good social work? How can we put people with lived experience at the heart of answering that question
When families interact with children’s social services, what separates a good experience from a poor one? And how does the way social workers communicate with families affect their experience? These are questions that matters deeply to thousands of children and families across Wales and beyond – and now, for the first time, those who’ve lived… Read More
From Wales to Australia: A Shared Vision for Care Leavers
When we were invited to Melbourne to share the Best Practice Charter to Support Parents in Leaving Care, we never imagined we’d actually be able to go, let alone receive such a warm welcome once we arrived. Thanks to successful funding from Cardiff University’s H-IAA Follow-on Fund*, our trip became a reality. We were invited and… Read More
CASCADE joins major new European project on child maltreatment services
CASCADE is proud to be part of a major new Horizon Europe project Serena, which brings together researchers from 12 countries to improve access to care for children affected by abuse and neglect. Led by Professor Catherine Quantin and coordinated by INSERM (France), the €6.3 million project will assess how services across Europe respond to… Read More
CASCADE Researcher Appointed Specialty Lead for Social Care at Health and Care Research Wales
CASCADE is proud to announce that Lorna Stabler, an experienced social care researcher at Cardiff University, has been appointed as the Specialty Lead for Social Care and Residential Care in Health and Care Research Wales. This prestigious role involves providing strategic support and championing research delivery within Wales. Health and Care Research Wales is recruiting… Read More
Parents’ Group Publishes Groundbreaking Article in British Journal of Social Work
We’re excited to share that an article co-written by members of CASCADE’s parents’ group has been published in the British Journal of Social Work. Titled “Critical Reflections on Public Involvement in Research: Involving Involuntary Recipients of Social Services to Improve Research Quality”, the article explores what meaningful involvement looks like when working with parents who have… Read More
Health and Care Research funding awards
Cardiff University researchers have been successful in the latest round of Health and Care Research Wales funding awards. The recipients of Health and Care Research Wales’ personal and project funding awards were announced on 1 April 2025. Personal award funding has been conferred to researchers from across Wales, including five Advancing Researcher awards, two Personal… Read More

 
			 
			 
			 
			 
			 
			 
			 
			 
			