QUARTERLY BRIEFING no 8 - september 2001

This briefing provides an update on developments in the research in practice network,a creative partnership between the Association of Directors of Social Services,The Dartington Hall Trust, the University of Sheffield and over 60 participating local authorities and voluntary child care organisations.

Our mission is to support these agencies and the wider child care community in their determination to become more research minded as they strive to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families.

aspirations, methods and objectives

research in practice operates as a developmental network,connecting research and practice,advancing research based improvement via the world wide web,organising exchanges, projects and conferences, publishing useful materials and supporting professional development work. Its services are designed to improve the use, understanding and implementation of research in the planning and delivery of services to vulnerable children and their families.

research in practice works intensively with 46 Partner agencies to devise and test new methods. A number of Member agencies receive our products (the website, paper and audiotape research reviews, newsposters and key seminars etc). In every case the relationship is one of engagement in a dynamic process:the staff in our Dartington and Sheffield offices see themselves as providing a Secretariat to this creative network, not as the essence of the organisation. Together we work to improve the capacity of service organisations to develop a research and evaluative culture.

research in practice’s task is four-fold:

1. to deliver specified services to our participating agencies
2. to support structured and constructive networking opportunities between participating agencies
3. to link the efforts of practice agencies to make good use of research (evidence based practice) with the need for researchers and funders
4. to meet the needs of practice (practice based evidence)
   to engage with those national initiatives that can support our aims.

From the outset we have tried hard to be responsive to and pro-active with our network of agencies.We have been just as anxious to build strong links with those who might have aspirations similar to our own – or whose work could support our aims and objectives. As a result research in practice has a growing national profile. We will continue to give high priority to illuminating the context of the most important national policy initiatives affecting family and child care services –including Quality Protects,Best Value, the Children and Young Person ’s Unit and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

the research in practice network

three levels of participation are available:

Partnership

Membership

provision for a further 46 agencies from the statutory and voluntary child care sectors and other agencies providing services for vulnerable children and families,including those incorporating health, education
and service user groups. Fifteen agencies are currently Members; more are welcome

Associates

by the nature of their sponsoring (in spirit,management and finance)of research in practice ,all agencies whose director is a Member of ADSS receive these Quarterly Briefings and single copies of all research in practiceproducts at the time of publication.

finances

Partners pay an annual fee of £9k for full participation in research in practice; Members pay £3k annually for bulk delivery of all our products at the time of publication, access to most of our website and an invitation to some key seminars. The ADSS contribution is tangible acknowledgement of their engagement and supports the specific services provided to their own wider membership. The Nuffield Foundation grant has financed the research audiotape; the Gatsby Charitable Foundation grant has supported the continuing website development. A collaboration with the Department of Health supports the Quality Protects Research Briefings series.

Our network

Barking and Dagenham Barnardo’s Birmingham Blackpool Bolton Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Cambridgeshire Cheshire The Children ’s Society Cornwall Coventry Cumbria Darlington Derbyshire Devon Dorset Dudley East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hackney Hammersmith &Fulham Hampshire Harrow Hertfordshire Islington Kensington &Chelsea Kent Knowsley Lambeth Lancashire Leicester City Leicestershire Liverpool Medwa Newham Northamptonshire North Yorkshire Nottingham NSPCC Oldham Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Sheffield Shropshire Somerset Southampton St Helens Staffordshire Suffolk Swindon Tameside Torbay Waltham Forest Warrington West Berkshire West Sussex Westminster Wigan Wiltshire

achievements so far

• six research focussed audiotapes on child placement, education, leaving care,anti-social behaviour, child and adolescent mental health

• a practitioner-determined series of research reviews: education of children in need, the impact on children of domestic violence, commissioning and managing external research

• a website learning zone delivering assistance in accessing and understanding research;features include a monthly update on current research and policy, and a register of researchers

• a pilot Action Pack to support the better use of evidence in front-line service teams

• email and web-based discussion groups

• evaluation of our own work (including the effectiveness of the audiotapes), an annual all-agency-audit to help Partner agencies benchmark and improve their own progress

• NewsPosters designed to draw practitioner attention to new research and services

• development projects within Partner agencies to test ways of delivering effective organisational support for evidence based practice

• over 1,200 places offered annually at research focussed workshops and symposia; features include briefings on latest research findings, hearing from Partner agencies about how they are using research to deliver better services, and considering how to develop research-mindedness across the workforce

• engaging the commitment of senior managers and planners, directors,service heads, elected members and trustees for the development of evidence based practice

• contributing to national service quality improvement by producing Research Briefings to support Quality Protects, through membership of ADSS Children & Families Committee and the Research Group, participation in the Social

• Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)consultation fora, part of the consortia developing the web-based Research Mindedness for Social Work and Social Care, presentations at ADSS Spring Seminars and the Annual Social Services Conference, and delivering joint national conferences, for example with NCB, helping to develop the electronic Library for Social Care (eLSC).
  More information about our past and current work can be found in our annual reports and workplans – available on our website.

plans for the year to 31 August 2002

This year research in practiceis embarking on a new phase of its evolution. We remain committed to working closely with a limited number of agencies to evaluate a variety of approaches to joining research and practice in the service of disadvantaged children. We also want to share what we learn more widely so that others can benefit from what our developing network of like-minded agencies and individuals has learned about what does and does not work. Our three levels of participation reflect these changes. This year ’s activity will include:

• two research reviews - on the impact of parental alcohol and drug misuse on children

• a Learning Events Programme which combines workshops, a symposium and, new this year, three modules which link to our development projects

• on-going development projects to support evidence based practice in teams and organisational support for evidence based practice, including piloting an Action Pack for teams and publishing a pilot Toolkit for organisations

• a new development project, provided in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau to support local authority ability to conduct and use the results of single service evaluation

• national research and policy seminars for elected members and trustees, directors of participating agencies and Link and Support officers

• re-building our website to increase accessibility and functionality and to add the EvidenceBank, which evaluates and summarises existing research overviews

• three more Quality Protects Research Briefings

• a series of ‘Findings’ - short summaries of new research studies

• continued refinement of a structure for agencies to benchmark and compare their progress towards evidence based practice.

for more information

Celia Atherton at research in practice
Blacklers,Park Road
Dartington,Totnes TQ9 6EQ
tel:01803 867692 email:celia@rip.org.uk

or research in practice
Children and Families Research Group
Elmfield
University of Sheffield S10 2TU
tel:0114 222 6484 email:rip@sheffield.ac.uk