What happened?
On 15th April 2026, we travelled to Aberdeen to attend and present at the European Conference for Social Work Research. We presented to social work academics the following day about the work of our group, linking to our paper: Critical reflections on public involvement in research: Involving involuntary recipients of social services to improve research quality | The British Journal of Social Work | Oxford Academic
What did we talk about?
We talked about the difference we make to the research that is happening at CASCADE and wider. In our presentation, we also shared some positive feedback from researchers we have worked with previously.
Why we did it
The reason for us to be there is to show academics and social workers that we are real people. We are not numbers on a screen, and we are not a tokenistic tool for research.
I think it’s important for people to hear what we do in the parents’ group, so that they understand the lived experience of the trauma we have experienced through child protection.
How we prepared
Before we went up to Aberdeen, we had a few meetings to prepare for our presentation. The meetings were helpful and gave us opportunities to speak through what we wanted to share and what was most important to us. We also talked about what we wanted to get out of the experience and shared any worries or concerns.
What we thought about the experience
Leanne:
I enjoyed the presentation, and people seemed really interested in what we had to say. I think coming from a parent background, it’s not very common to have these opportunities to have a say in front of an audience of professionals and academics.
I felt the response was positive. The chair of our session said ours were the best presentations he had seen at the conference! I felt very proud.
I was a little bit nervous when we first stood up to start speaking, but then I relaxed from looking around the room and seeing smiling faces, which put me at ease.
I would 100% do something like this again. After everything that has happened, it felt good that something positive came out of it.
Cerys:
I also think the presentation was an incredibly positive experience and very successful. To be able to use an experience that was so traumatic for us all and to turn it into experiences for others to learn from is incredibly powerful. It helps you as a person move on from the trauma as well. Like Leanne, I first found it nerve wracking, but our previous experiences presenting our work to university social work students really did help me build confidence in public speaking.
Elaine:
Speaking at the conference with Cerys and Leanne was a fantastic experience! It was so moving to stand alongside the parents and show others all of the fantastic work they have been doing. We shared what the group does to improve research at our Research Centre in CASCADE, as well as further afield. As well as celebrating their achievements as a group, it was also important to share how we can do this work in a way that makes a positive difference to our parents. This is key to all of the work we do in the Public Involvement team. We are looking forward to finding more opportunities to share what we have learnt through this work.
What next?
We are looking for opportunities to present about our group again. We want to share our learning, so other people can bring more parents with our type of experiences in to improve their research.
We hope that future conferences can hear from people with lived experience more often, to give them a human element and challenge some assumptions.
Final thoughts from our parents
It is incredibly important to have public involvement within research, as without lived experience you can’t change or improve a system sufficiently. This in particular applies to social care which is very-much person centered. With this in mind, I hope we have more opportunities to promote more of these ideas. I want for people with lived experiences to see these conference spaces, not as alienating areas and just for people that are better than us, but as spaces for open-mindedness and engagement, with a spotlight on the importance of keeping children safe and cared for within a holistic and supportive framework.
Article written by Leanne, Cerys and Elaine