• Exploring online mental health and wellbeing services during ‘lockdown’.

    Two new papers have been published that explore the online mental health and wellbeing interventions and services for care-experienced young people during the pandemic, which has implications in our post Covid 19 world. During the Covid-19 pandemic many mental health and wellbeing services quickly moved to online delivery. However, there was limited discussion on how… Read More

  • Study finds children receiving care and support in Wales more likely to be immunised

    A new study into the immunisation status of children in Wales has found that children under a care and support plan had higher overall vaccination rates than the general population and were more up to date with their immunisations. The UK’s childhood immunisation programme ensures children are offered protection against serious infection. However, identifying inequalities… Read More

  • Research Methods Training

    At CASCADE we have a commitment to involving people with lived experience of children’s social services in our research. We believe this is a vital part of producing relevant and impactful research. However, it can be difficult for adults and young people to contribute and understand what we do in research. Bridging that gap is… Read More

  • Film premiere: Harmful relationships and crime 

    On Tuesday 11th July five inspiring young people visited SPARK to share the premiere of their two co-produced films exploring the impact of Child Criminal Exploitation. The event was hosted by CASCADE and attended by a small group of invited guests from across a range of related organisations. These included: Violence Prevention Unit, South Wales Police, Swansea… Read More

  • ECSWR 2023 – Milan trip

    Even though summer is approaching, the memories of Easter are still fresh in my mind. In April, I attended the ECSWR (European Conference for Social Work Research) 2023 in Milan with a group of researchers from CASCADE, including Donald, Jonathan, Alyson, Clive, Sophie, Melissa, and myself. We all actively participated in the conference, with Donald… Read More

  • CASCADE researchers published in academic journal.

    Two CASCADE researchers have recently been featured in the International Journal of Educational and Life Transitions. Leaving a Pupil Referral Unit in Wales: Care Experienced Young People and their Post-16 Transitions is a project led by Dr Phil Smith. Care experienced young people are more likely to leave compulsory schooling, with fewer qualifications, than their… Read More

  • Making sense of increasing young carer prevalence – cause for concern or finding the hidden population? 

    Wednesday March 15th is Young Carers Action Day 2023, an annual event that draws attention to the lives of children who care for a family member due to an illness or disability. Research has a key role in investigating the impacts of caring and informing what support could look like, but the issue of increasing prevalence estimates is challenging our understanding.

  • Conversation Analysis and Social Work Conference 2023 – registration open

    The Universities of Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh, Loughborough and Universitet Uppsala invite you to attend the third annual Conversation Analysis and Social Work Conference on 1st June 2023 (online), 9.45am – 4.15pm. The conference provides a venue for the exchange of research findings from different institutional, national, and cultural settings, and a meeting place for academics, researchers, and doctoral… Read More

  • Cardiff University’s CASCADE research centre to evaluate ground-breaking cash transfer scheme

    One of the world’s most ambitious anti-poverty cash transfer schemes will be evaluated by a multi-institutional team led by one of the UKs leading social care research centres, based at Cardiff University. CASCADE’s Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre will lead the research along with academics from Kings College London, University of Oxford, University of York, Northumbria University and the Centre for Homelessness Impact. 

  • Youth Charter

    The Youth Charter comes from a two-year Health and Care Research Wales funded study that examined how young people are criminally exploited in Wales…