Building research capacity in children’s social care: the SEEDS project

Project aims

The SEEDS (Supporting research and evidence-informed decision making in children’s social care) project aims to take the first steps in creating a culture of producing and using research evidence in two local authorities – Bristol City Council and Gloucestershire County Council.

We will bring the worlds of research and children’s social care together to help social care teams in these local authorities use research to:

• Inform decision making
• Build research capacity so that eventually producing and using research evidence becomes standard practice within the local authorities
• Ensure that researchers address the things that matter to those working in and using children’s social care services, including children and their carers

To do this we will:

1. Employ a ‘researcher in residence’ to work closely with Bristol and Gloucestershire children’s social care teams. The researcher will help the teams access research relevant to them and the children, young people and carers they work with.
2. Provide protected time for a social care practitioner to act as a ‘research champion’ in each local authority. The research champions will work closely with the researcher in residence to develop children’s social care staff understanding of research and how it can be used to inform practice.
3. Meet regularly to share experiences, discuss challenges and find solutions, and share learning more widely across Bristol and Gloucestershire services and beyond.

What we hope to achieve

We want to take the first steps in developing a research culture in children’s social care. This will help children’s social care staff make better decisions. Ultimately, this will improve the support that children and families receive.