Children and Parents

We have been working with children, young people, parents and foster or kinship carers who have been, or are in contact with children’s social care, or early years. We have been talking to them about their ‘voice’. By this we mean, their views, experiences, thoughts and feelings.

We are trying to find out:

• If children, parents and carers voice is ‘in information’. This might be in things like Care Plans, Pathway Plans, Child Protection Plans, Child in Need Plans or in minutes of meetings;
• Children, parents and carers ‘voice’ is asked and heard ‘about’ information. By this we mean whether they are asked about how their information is used and shared with professionals, local authorities and the government.

We have set up a small group of Expert Advisers – there are four young people who have been in care and two parents who have been in contact with children’s social care. They have been planning the research, thinking about findings and developing information for the project.

Are you a child, young person, parent, or foster or kinship carer? Would you like to get involved?
We have been holding short online focus groups. This usually works best if we attend a support group or meeting that you go to with other children, young people, parents or carers.

You can find more information about taking part here [link to participant information]. 

If you belong to a group that might like to take part, please contact Sarah at sarah.gorin@education.ox.ac.uk. You can ask Sarah any questions and she can speak to your group before you decide to take part.

Understanding your rights about accessing information

Understanding your rights about accessing information about you can be difficult. We do not provide advice about accessing information, but have put together a short list of organisations that provide advice and support.