Quality Care For Children- Evidence Informed Inspection Practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Inspecting children's homes: Using research and evidence to develop inspection indicators about quality care for looked after children and young people in residential care
IRAS ID
211771
Contact name
Karen Winter
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Young people who live in care have usually experienced disrupted and abusive childhoods (RQIA, 2011). These experiences can be experienced as traumatic incidents that impact negatively on their well-being and their developing sense of identity (Anglin, 2002). Inspection Agencies that are tasked with the statutory responsibility for the review of the residential child care sector, have highlighted in their reports both strong and weak aspects of the sector (NIHRC, 2015). Going forward, a deeper consideration is required as to how Inspection Agencies could use their unique and strategic role to contribute to the reshaping and realigning of the residential child care service (Hill and Gentlemen, 2015; Pålsson, 2015; Kendrick et al., 2015).
Aims:
This research aims, through engagement with key stakeholders, to attempt to develop a set of inspection indicators based on research about what constitutes good quality care in a children’s home with particular reference to the identify formation of young people in this setting.Objectives:
• To complete a literature review to ascertain what constitutes good quality care in a children’s home;
• To deduce from this review (and informed by the work of Anglin and Honneth) a broad framework of pointers and principles that identify the essential features of good quality care;
• To work collaboratively with a selected group of professionals and young people in care, to identify a set of indicators that could potentially be used by Inspectors to assess the quality of care being delivered in a children’s home – in particular whether or not a children’s home has created the milieu, systems, culture and the caring attributes which allow a young person’s identity to be sustained and nurtured in that setting.
• To seek feedback on any indicators developed in particular how they can be used as a suitable framework for Inspectors in reviewing and reshaping residential child care practice.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
17/NI/0026
Date of REC Opinion
27 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion