The work of the Rees Centre

Judy SebbaRees Centre for Research in Fostering and

EducationJudy.sebba@education.ox.ac.uk

Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education

Overall aim of the Centre is to:• identify what works to improve the outcomes

and life chances of children and young people in foster care

We are doing this by: • reviewing existing research in order to make

better use of current evidence;• conducting new research to address gaps.

• Centre is funded by Core Assets, international children’s services provider

The current evidence base in children’s services (adapted from Stevens et al, 2009, p.286)

Methods used in 625 studies (selective)

No of studies

% of studies

Qualitative 230 37Mixed method 108 17

Longitudinal 74 12Quantitative dataset

analysis16 3

Non-randomised trial 8 1RCT 3 <1

Systematic review 2 <1

Some key principles of our work

• Focus on fostering not adoption;• User engagement throughout the research

process - providers, carers, young people;• Synthesis of existing international evidence;• New projects including trials & mixed method;• More accessible findings & debate about them

– blog, twitter, speaking to groups etc.

What problem is the research on motivation to foster addressing?

• number of children and young people in care is increasing faster than the number of foster carers (e.g. Rodger et al, 2006);

• only half of those who request information about fostering express their intention to consider it further (e.g. Ciarrochi et al., 2011) and Triseliotis et al., (2000) noted that 80% of enquiries did not result in an application.

Why do people become foster carers: a review of the international research

• Reviewed 32 studies from Australia, Canada, US and Scandinavia;

• Studies were retrospective, mainly small scale, often relied on one source only and possible that interviewers were seen as potential ‘assessors’;

• Only one study (Brown et al 2006) in which carers played a significant role in the research;

• Compared findings to review of UK literature by McDermid et al (2012) & TFN’s 2012 survey;

• Recommendations are being addressed through DfE commissioned survey and future Rees Centre study.

Why do people become foster carers? main findings

• Knowing other foster carers or, less often, contact with a fostered child or young person is most likely reason for initial interest;

• Myths about fostering are common in the general public but can be addressed through better information though contact with foster parents is most effective;

• Lack of appropriate support for carers, not including them as part of the ‘team’ leads to dissatisfaction - sends negative messages to those who might foster.

Why do people become foster carers? other findings

• main drivers for fostering are intrinsic and essentially altruistic often expressed as ‘loving children’ & wanting to make a difference to the lives of children;

• extending the family/providing a sibling for a lone child, personal experience of being fostered or growing up with fostered children, wanting home-based employment;

• Income generation not a principal motivation to foster, though studies rarely distinguish between carers from different income groups. Covering costs and replacing income from previous employment important.

New study on motivation

• Identify number of initial inquiries, proportion that lead to registration and time taken – 2 LAs have reported >200 inquiries/year, 4-13% approved, in average time of 8-16 months;

• Invite those inquiring to participate;• Foster carers to interview those inquiring about

initial motivations, types of child, etc;• Re-interview after approx 8 months;• Interview those choosing not to continue.

Some future research plans•What motivates foster carers?Based on the review will follow up those who inquire, interviews undertaken by foster carers

•How do foster carers support each other?What is the nature of the support and what does it provide? Outcomes for carers & children? Review & intervention.

•Supporting carers to develop children’s literacy (tbc)Looking at literacy of children in care at primary to secondary school transfer

• Siblings togetherAn evaluation of befriending scheme to bring siblings together who have been placed apart

• Fostering teenagers Seminar series proposed Oxford, Bedfordshire, Gothenburg

Educational issues• 13% gain five A*-Cs GCSEs (including Maths & English)

compared to 58% of all children – a gap of 45%;• Only 8% access HE compared to > 50% of general

population;• 75% of children in care have identified SEN and their

attainment is lower than SEN pupils in general;• educational experiences and outcomes contribute to

later health, employment (22% unemployment rate), involvement in crime (27% of those in prison have been in care) and so on.

Key messages from research about educational outcomes

• Foster carer training in behaviour (e.g. Briskman & Scott 2012) suggest improvements in outcome measures;

• Higher academic achievement in fostered children is related to a higher number of accessible books (Cheung et al. 2012);

• Flynn et al. (2012) reported enhanced sentence comprehension and reading outcomes when carers undertook 2.5 hours reading activities a week with their foster child;

• Points of transition e.g. school transfer, are particularly problematic for children in care;

• caregiver’s educational aspirations for the young person emerges as predictor of educational success (Flynn et al, 2013);

• Placement stability is closely correlated with attainment but what affects placement stability?

• Longer children are in care, the better their educational outcomes (Berridge 2012) – potential of carer influence.

Key Stage 4 attainment by the length of time in care (DfE 2011 Datapack for LAs)

11

Key Stage 4 performance by length of time in care

40.7

51.2

55.8 55.1

65.0

18.6

25.0

30.0 28.431.9

9.0 10.2 11.613.8

16.4

44.0

62.3

33.4

20.5

15.0

8.4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

12-18 months 18 months - 2years

2 - 3 years 3 - 4 years 4 - 5 years 5 - 6 years 6 years or more

Length of time in care

Perc

enta

ge a

chie

ving

5+ GCSEs at grades A*-G

5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C

5+ GCSEs at grades A*-Cincluding English & mathematics

User engagement in Rees Centre Research

Regular consultation with:• Children & young people in care, care leavers

– from LAs & independent providers;• Carers – Ten carers completed training as

interviewers on 5 Dec, another 15 on 30 Jan;• Service providers, social workers;• Advisory group;• International Experts Reference Group.

How you can find out more

• Lectures & seminars

• Mailing List – rees.centre@education.ox.ac.uk

• Web - http://reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/

• Comment on our blog – or write for us

• Newsletter

• Twitter - @ReesCentre

References

• Berridge, D.(2012) Educating young people in care Children and Youth Services Review 34, 1171-1175

• Briskman, J. & Scott, S.(2012). RCT of the Fostering Changes Programme, The National Academy for Parenting Research, Report for DfE.

• Cheung, C. et al. (2012) Helping youth in care succeed. Children & Youth Services Review 34 1092-1100

• Flynn, R., et al.(2012) Effects of individual direct-instruction tutoring on foster children's academic skills: A RCT. Children & Youth Services Review 34, 1183-1189

• Robert J. Flynn, Nicholas G. Tessier & Daniel Coulombe (2013): Placement, protective and risk factors in the educational success of young people in care: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, European Journal of Social Work, DOI:10.1080/13691457.2012.722985

• Stevens, M., Liabo, K., Witherspoon, S. and Roberts, H. (2009) What do practitioners want from research, what do funders fund and what needs to be done to know more about what works in the new world of children's services? Evidence & policy: vol 5, no 3: 281-294.