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Research at York undertaken by Bradshaw, Skinner, Corden and Davidson, directly influenced child support policy throughout the period 2008-2013, informing the radical change that abolished the Child Support Agency and returned child maintenance to the hands of parents to make private agreements under the `Child Maintenance and Other Payments' Act 2008. It also contributed to the decision to disregard child support payments and thus allow child support to increase lone parent incomes and reduce child poverty. More recently our research has contributed to the evolution of policy under the Coalition Government in the 2012 `Welfare Reform' Act, which introduced new `relationship support' services to improve co-parenting relationships, reduce conflict and improve child well-being.
Every year over 5,000 children and young people in the UK die. Previous research suggests that 20-25% of these deaths may be preventable, and in comparison to many other European countries, the UK has higher child mortality rates. Child Death Review processes, introduced in the USA in the 1970s have been proposed as a means of learning from child deaths and driving prevention initiatives. Prior to 2008, the UK had no national system for reviewing and learning from children's deaths.
From 2006 to 2007, a team from Warwick Medical School led by Dr Peter Sidebotham undertook government-funded research examining a number of Local Authorities across England who had set up pilot Child Death Overview Panels (CDOPs). The findings from this research were instrumental in developing national policy and procedures for child death reviews. The Warwick research emphasised the importance of a multi-agency approach to reviewing all child deaths, with a strong public health focus on learning lessons for prevention, and robust systems for notification and gathering information. This, together with other research by Warwick Medical School on fatal child maltreatment published between 2009 and 2011, has contributed to updated national policy and interagency practice to safeguard children.
Although it is too early in the process to demonstrate any impact on the ultimate goal of reducing preventable child deaths, CDOPs have now been established in every Local Authority in England, as well as an all-Wales panel, and current work in Scotland and Northern Ireland is considering how best to implement such reviews. These panels are reviewing all child deaths in England, resulting in local prevention initiatives, and national returns enabling a clearer picture of the nature of preventable child deaths.
Professor Susan Golombok's research has made a significant contribution to policy formation and legislation regarding families created by assisted reproductive technologies. Her research has directly informed the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (2008); the policies of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA); and recommendations of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in relation to assisted reproductive technologies involving the donation of eggs, sperm or embryos and surrogacy, and with respect to families with single and same-sex parents. Moreover, her research has been widely recognised as having made a fundamental contribution to public debate on the social and ethical implications of assisted reproduction for individuals, families and society.
Our work on children's agency in research has had three impacts:
This approach has been replicated in Australia, Turkey, New Zealand, Norway and Qatar. The CRC website hosts 150 successful projects by children and young people, and through the Diana Award more than 1500 children were supported in their research on cyberbullying.
Jonathan Bradshaw and colleagues at York influenced UK and international measures of child poverty, child deprivation and child well-being. The multi-dimensional well-being measures have been adopted by UNICEF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Office for National statistics (ONS) is now developing measures of child happiness based on our work.
Our research highlighted how badly children in Britain were doing. Informed by this evidence, a Government strategy was developed after 1999 and investment in children improved at least until 2010. As a result, child poverty and well-being improved in the UK. Our work contributed to moving the national and international discourse beyond a focus on income poverty.
Research conducted by the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice (CSPSJ) led to a new way of assessing child poverty in developing countries. This novel method (termed the Bristol Approach) resulted in the United Nations General Assembly's adoption, for the first time, of an international definition of child poverty (2006). It also underpinned UNICEFs Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities (2008-10), which was run in over 50 countries. In the last ten years, the CSPSJ's work has put child poverty at the centre of international social and public policy debates. Its researchers have advised governments and international agencies on devising anti-poverty strategies and programmes that specifically meet the needs of children, and have significantly influenced the way child poverty is studied around the world. The Centre has developed academic and professional training courses for organisations like UNICEF on the issues of children's rights and child-poverty. Our work has also spurred NGOs such as Save the Children to develop their own child-development indices, and so has had a direct and profound impact on the lives of poor children around the planet.
Since 1994, a team from the University of Reading, led by Peter Cooper, Professor (1993-) and Lynne Murray, Professor (1996-), have published extensively on postnatal depression (PND), revealing important information on the prevalence, detection rates, prediction and assessment of this disorder. Furthermore, their studies examined the impact of PND on the mother-infant relationship and child development, and the effectiveness of interventions for PND. This work has been key to clarifying the nature of PND and its clinical significance and has had a major impact on clinical care for women with PND and their babies. Specifically, the research has provided support for an increased number of health visitors in the UK, influenced UK practice guidelines, and informed training delivered directly to healthcare professionals by Cooper and Murray. Cooper and Murray have extended their UK research to work in an impoverished community in South Africa, which has given rise to community-based parenting interventions that are now being disseminated both in South Africa and beyond.
The Unit's work has had a direct impact on the child protection system in England. In 2010, the Secretary of State for Education invited Eileen Munro to review the child protection system, giving her a wide remit enabling her to address systemic factors (such as the inspection framework, statutory guidance and performance management systems) as well as front line practice. All 15 recommendations of her final 2011 report [B] have been accepted and are being implemented. Munro's research has had significant reach: she has given evidence to two state government reviews of child protection in Australia; and in Queensland a charity is running a campaign to persuade the state government to learn from her work.
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.
Vincent's research comprises a UK comparison of child death review policy, development of a Scottish evidence base and a comparative study of child death review across six countries. The research has had an impact on public policy to protect children. It has stimulated international, national and local policy debate and changed policy. It has also had an impact on practitioners and services. Professionals from a range of disciplines have used the research findings in conducting their work and it has had an influence on inter-agency child protection guidelines and on multi agency training.