• We speak the same language

    The mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people is a major public concern. This has been further exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and wider concerns about the diminished availability of mental health support services. A project led by DECIPHer’s Dr Rhiannon Evans in partnership with CASCADE and The Fostering Network Wales… Read More
  • Getting cozy with a good book

    As part of our CASCADE Parents group and network we have offered the opportunity for members to contribute to blogs if they would like to. These will be stories, messages, or priorities for research from their perspective. We hope this will be a regular blog feature at CASCADE and another way for us to amplify… Read More
  • CASCADE Voices Autumn 2021

    CASCADE’s award-winning care experienced young people’s research advisory group CASCADE Voices, run in partnership with Voices from Care Cymru has been hard at work virtually during the pandemic. While we were all finding the best ways to manage during a pandemic our dedicated young people have continued to get involved in our group and we couldn’t be more… Read More
  • CASCADE’s Work on Safeguarding

    Written by Jonathan Scourfield, Deputy Director of the Centre As we are a research and development centre for children’s social care, safeguarding has of course always been a key priority for CASCADE. With this being National Safeguarding Week, I’d like to highlight some of our work on this theme. We aim to do research with… Read More
  • Enhancing understandings of involvement in risky behaviours amongst children receiving social care

    It is widely accepted that children looked after have poorer educational and health outcomes than the general population. However, low numbers and the tendency to treat children looked after as a homogenous group is problematic not least because it overlooks differences based on individual needs and circumstances. To understand the reasons for these inequalities, a… Read More
  • Research into the experiences and outcomes of autistic children in foster or kinship care launched

    There is very little research on the experiences and outcomes of autistic children in foster or kinship care. This is an area I have been passionate about for a while and I am excited to be able to start a new project, made possible by a Health and Care Research Wales three-year fellowship. From the… Read More
  • Leaving a pupil referral unit: Exploring the transitions and post-16 destinations of care experienced young people across Wales

    As a qualified youth and community worker, I’ve always had an interest in working with young people who struggle with formal education, and who are marginalised or under-represented in research. It is widely known that, on average, many children in care find education to be difficult. What is less well understood is what happens to… Read More
  • Schwartz Rounds end-of-project blog

    I really like Schwartz Rounds. I know when you undertake a scientific evaluation of something, you are supposed be carefully neutral, to avoid the suggestion of bias or that you might have pre-empted the outcome. But I am only human, and I have to be honest. I liked the idea of Schwartz Rounds before we… Read More
  • Cut outs of a house, two people with one holding a balloon and clouds on a blue background
    Replacing Child Protection Conferences with Family Group Conferences

    Over the past two decades in the UK and elsewhere, the importance of involving children, young people and parents in social work decision-making has been increasingly recognised. When enabled and supported to take part, children, young people and parents can play an essential role in the planning and delivery of services. Improved engagement and participation… Read More
  • CASCADE and What Works for Children’s Social Care: Partners in research but no longer the Research Partner

    In November 2017, the Department for Education announced that CASCADE would be its Research Partner for the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care. Nesta were awarded a contract to help incubate and deliver the Centre itself.     It’s been nearly three years since then, and much has changed. The What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care has been renamed and firmly established… Read More