Social Research Unit researchers, Tim Hobbs and Nick Axford, have been awarded the Kamerman and Khan award for their paper to be presented at this years International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI) conference at York.

The presentation draws upon work undertaken by the Social Research Unit over the last five years to collect robust data on children's health and development in order to inform the strategic design and implementation of services for children. Illustrative data are presented from the UK, Ireland and the US.
 
This years ISCI conference took place on the 27th to 29th July at the University of York. For more information, please visit the following links: 
www.childindicators.org
www.york.ac.uk/conferences/ISCO2011/
 

The presentation abstract and powerpoint are below:
 

Abstract
How can data on child well-being indicators be used to inform policy and practice? This paper explores this question drawing on child well-being surveys conducted in the UK and US in the context of structured service development method.
 
The surveys comprise standardised measures of child well-being and potential influences on it. They have been administered with parents of children aged 0-6 and via an on-line audio-assisted self-completion format in school for children aged 7-18. The surveys have yielded data on over 65,000 children since 2007, and allow some analysis of trends. Recent work has included gathering the same data from children in contact with children’s services systems.
 
These data have helped children’s services policy makers and managers to decide what services to offer to whom, when and why. Specifically, they have helped forge agreement on: the outcomes to focus on and the realistic magnitude of achievable change; the size and characteristics of the target group; whether services should be targeted or universal; and the reallocation of resources (typically from heavy-end provision to early intervention).
 
In order to achieve these changes the data analysis has focused on: deficits – by comparing outcomes of the population sampled with norms; inequalities – through sub-group analyses, or comparisons of the least and most well-off children on a given indicator; inefficiencies – by comparing children in the community with those served by agencies; and trends – by monitoring change to see if new circumstances, investments or decommissioning have an impact.
 
Next steps include: improving dissemination of the data, for example by mapping the data spatially or making it ‘live’ so that practitioners and policy makers can explore it; and extending the functions of the data, for example by charting the relationship between outcomes and outputs and adding a robust service-use measure to highlight the match between needs and services.

This was the question under the spotlight a recent Social Research Unit event in London.

The Unit was delighted to partner with the National Unit for Family Nurse Partnership to bring together David Olds, the developer of the Nurse Family Parthership programme, Kate Billingham, programme lead for FNP, Ann Rowe, Implementation Lead for FNP and Jacqueline Barnes from Birbeck Universit Drawing on their experiences of overseeing and evaluating the roll out of this evidence-based programme, they shared their observations about the problems and possible solutions with a mixed group of academics and policy makers. For a more detailed account of the event, visit www.preventionaction.org.

To download a copy of the Powerpoint presentation, please click on the link below. Also, to view video clips of Michael Little's closing remarks and Ann Rowes perspective, please click on the video link.

The Social Research Unit is among child policy research centres in Dublin this week for the latest meeting of a network bringing international perspective to the problems of child poverty, child abuse and neglect.

The International Network of Child Policy Research Centres was set up after an exploratory gathering at the Chapin Hall Center for Children in Chicago in 2001.
 
The Unit has had connections with the Chicago centre since the 1990s. Other participants come from Brazil, India, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Northern Ireland, Norway, South Africa and the US. On the agenda are discussions about prevention and early intervention, youth policy, assessing the impact of research on policy and evaluating complex community-based initiatives.
 
Previous collaborations have produced two Oxford University Press books, giving cross-national perspectives on research utilisation and residential care. But they are not the goal: the founding objective was to create a space for peer learning unhindered by political borders.

Unit thinking about the role in children’s services of ‘operating systems’ as a framework for evidence-based programmes, cost-benefit analysis and reliable evaluation was discussed at the annual conference of the UK Association of Directors of Children’s Services.

 
Director Michael Little described our experience of applying the Social Research Unit’s Common Language on the island of Ireland and in Birmingham UK. Other contributors included Joyce Moseley and Fran Pollard from Catch 22, the license holders for another model, Communities that Care.
 
Michael’s talk is attached, as are the slides Fran Pollard used to describe the contribution of the Communities that Care approach. We will also be providing a link to the publication "Tools for improving outcomes and performance” from the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) which summarises operating systems so far available in the UK.