Learn about Kinship’s research, informed by the experiences of kinship carers, and see how we use this evidence to call for change in law, policy, and practice.
For professionals:
Increasing participation in kinship care research
Kinship partnered with the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research at Lancaster University on this research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Award and the Department for Education. Professor Judith Harwin (Centre for Child and Family Justice) led the research. The research team also included Kinship’s CEO Dr Lucy Peake and kinship carers Clare Walsh and Sharon McPherson.
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Study status: complete
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Background and study aims
The difference that kinship care and special guardianship can make to children’s lives by providing stable homes is receiving unprecedented attention in policy and practice. What is missing however, is the voices, experiences and expertise of kinship carers in helping formulate the research agenda. They can feel they have “research done to them but not with them”.
The aim of this project was to increase opportunities for special guardians and other kinship carers to influence future research about their lives, to help develop better evidence that can be used to improve services and support for families like theirs.
What did the study involve?
This project involved working with special guardians every step of the way so that they are able to shape resources to support the co-design of research initiatives from the initial idea through to the final output.
Our key outputs are:
- a report on the findings – download the executive summary below
- a toolkit to guide future participatory research – download the toolkit below
This project was supported by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Award and the Department for Education (DfE).
Download the research outputs
Here you can download the executive summary of our research findings and our co-produced practical toolkit. We will publish the full report soon.
See other related content
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Information, advice and support for professionals working with kinship carers.