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Research conducted at UEL on the protection, participation and welfare of children living in difficult circumstances in the aftermath of conflict and in contexts of urban and rural poverty has had wide-ranging impacts on international policy and practice. Benefits have arisen particularly from its influence on national policies for orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda; on international professional standards and `best practice'; and on legal asylum in the USA. It has been used directly by governmental policymakers in Rwanda and Bangladesh and aid organisations in Africa and Asia, and has formed the basis for the development of new learning and advocacy resources used to improve the services offered by social work professionals in Africa, Asia and the UK. Through its direct impact on these individuals and organisations, the research has delivered indirect benefits to millions of children and adults around the world.
Research by Dr Una Convery and Dr Linda Moore (respectively Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Criminology) has significantly influenced rights-compliance in policy, legislation and practice regarding youth custody in Northern Ireland and beyond. Most notably, it impacted decisively on the development of innovative regimes and policies at NI's only custodial centre for children and improved their conditions. It also influenced decisions on reduced custodial levels and the removal of children from the penal system. By providing a solid evidence base, utilised by lobbyists and political representatives, the research influenced the inclusion of independent reviews of the penal and youth justice systems within the multi-party Hillsborough Agreement (2010). Its findings also assisted the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) in its successful campaign for enhanced investigatory powers.
Senior managers in agencies in contact with children are frequently criticised, particularly in reports following child deaths, for failing to facilitate collaborative working to safeguard children. Yet, developing and sustaining collaborative systems is not easy. To assist managers, Horwath and Morrison developed a conceptual framework and, in collaboration with policy-makers and managers in Wales, added standards and indicators. These combine to form the building blocks likely to create a safe, multidisciplinary, child protection system. Their research has:
The findings from this research on noticing and helping neglected children are contributing to shaping effective responses by practitioners. In high income countries neglect is the most frequent category of child maltreatment. In the UK as many as one in ten children may experience neglect and yet systems here, and other jurisdictions with similar models, struggle to provide an effective response. The research at Stirling is improving practitioner knowledge and confidence with the development of comprehensive training materials and follow-on knowledge exchange work with multi-disciplinary groups of practitioners in England. It has contributed to policy development in England and Scotland.
Research at Strathclyde has focused on the abuse of children in residential care, both historical and contemporary abuse, and drawn out the implications for improving current policy and practice. These research conclusions have been central in informing local, national and international policy and practice developments, impacting on interventions for adults who have experienced abuse in care, training and education of residential child care professionals, and current residential child care services. This impact has been delivered through the research directly informing the evidence base for the Shaw Review (2007) in Scotland into lessons to be learnt from historical abuse. This Review drew upon the published research alongside commissioned accounts by the Strathclyde researchers to identify actions by the Scottish Government in this area which have been implemented by government since 2008.
Since 2006 the University of East Anglia (UEA) has led a series of Government commissioned studies of all Serious Case Reviews of child death and serious injury in England. This work has provided the largest national database of analyses of child deaths and serious injury where abuse or neglect are known or suspected.
Since 2008, the findings have informed public understanding, practitioner thinking, multi-agency child protection practice, policy and law - in the UK, and internationally. Both key child protection policy and practice reviews commissioned by the UK Government 2008-13, the Laming report (2009) and the Munro Review of Child Protection (2011), drew on this research.
Research conducted by Peter Elfer has shown the significance of attention to babies and under threes' emotional well-being in nursery if early learning is to be effective. Children who are continually anxious or distressed do not learn well. A sensitive, responsive and consistent relationship with mainly one or two members of nursery staff (now known as the child's `key-person') has been shown to promote in young children feelings of safety and security. The research has underpinned the development of the key-person role in nurseries, as the means for enabling individual attention to children. This research has had a significant impact in the following areas:
1) UK Government curriculum guidance and requirements
2) Training of the early years workforce and continuing professional development
3) The evolution of UK Coalition Government policy and public discourse
The reach of the research is extensive, providing the underpinning for attachment practice in English nurseries. The above developments have strengthened the expectation in national standards of greater attention to the emotions of babies and young children in nursery and have provided the detailed guidance on how this can be achieved in practice.
Brunel research evaluated the first UK adaptation of an innovative American model for managing child care proceedings in court cases of parental drug and alcohol misuse. This evaluation provided the UK evidence base for the `Family Drug and Alcohol Court model' (FDAC); this has created impacts with national significance and international reach. Impacts for health and welfare for families were demonstrated through improved health and welfare outcomes such as reduced parental substance misuse, higher family reunification rates or, if required, swifter alternative placement for children; impacts for practitioners and professional services were achieved for social workers, lawyers, children's guardians and judges through the development of new understanding, enhanced inter-professional working and the delivery of more integrated practice with potential cost savings; impacts on public policy, law and services were achieved through raising political awareness, legislative debate, as well contributing to the international adoption of the model.
In a continuing policy focus on the family, both the current coalition government and its Labour predecessor have emphasised the value of re-integrating fathers into the family unit. For over 20 years our research has helped the UK government understand the role and importance of fathers to children's development. We have made concrete recommendations about the focus (i.e., the what and how) of initiatives designed to promote fathering. Our impact includes a tenfold increase in funding for work with fathers in Children's Centres and the pivotal influence of one study in parental responsibility granted to over two million unmarried fathers.
UNICEF estimate that over 3,500 children die annually from abuse and neglect in economically developed countries, including 100 in the UK of whom around 4 are from Northern Ireland. Although the number of deaths appears to be falling in the UK, the rate of decline is slowing. This case study describes the impact of three related pieces of research undertaken for the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People. The aim was to identify the things that policy makers and practitioners could do differently in order to protect children better, and has led to significant improvements into how reviews are undertaken, and in the child protection policies and practices in Northern Ireland. As a result children have been better protected by child welfare professionals.