Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this edition of our podcast, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, speaks with Jenny Coles, who became the President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services in April of this year. Jenny is also the Director of Children’s Services in Hertfordshire County Council. Jenny discusses the positive outcomes of this difficult time, such as the...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Rachael Pryor, Head of Service, Inclusive City and Virtual School Headteacher at Bristol City Council. In this episode, Rachael discusses how lockdown helped herself and her team think differently about how they organise their time more effectively, in particular with children who are being educated outside of the local authority. Rachael also...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode we are delighted to be joined by three of the senior leaders from Telford and Wrekin Council - Clive Jones, the out-going Executive Director, Children’s and Family Services; Jo Britton, who is is taking over the role and has been Director of Children’s Safeguarding and Family Support at the Council; and Heather Loveridge, Director of Education and Skills. In this episode, Clive,...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, talks to Jenny Turnross, Director Of Practice at Birmingham Children’s Trust. In her conversation with Michael, Jenny discusses how forming a partnership operation group with all departments working with children and families allowed Birmingham Children’s Trust to cut through bureaucracy and achieve a...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, talks to Julia Hassall, the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care in Rochdale. Julia discusses how Rochdale’s relational approach to practice guided their response to COVID-19, how they embraced creative solutions - such as recordings of lullabies, direct work through windows, Easter egg...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, talks to Richard Devine, a Social Worker for Bath and North East Somerset (@RichardDevineSW). Richard discusses the impact of remote working, the cumulative effect of ‘mildly difficult’ situations and missing the moments of reflection and decompression while driving between appointments. Richard and...

In this special episode of the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care,  is talking with Dr Peter Sidebotham, who led the Children Safeguarding Practice Review Panel review of sudden unexpected death in infancy in families where children are considered at risk of significant harm, which was published this week. Despite the huge reduction in the incidence over the last 20-30 years, sudden unexpected death in...

In this episode of the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, is talking with Martin Kelly, OBE, Assistant Director for Children and Families at North Yorkshire County Council. Martin discusses participating in a virtual inspection of their youth justice service, ensuring their strengths-based, relational approach to practice was maintained, even when face-to-face contact was more difficult, and what the...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care talks to Jo Silver, Director of Quality and Innovation at SafeLives, the UK-wide charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, for everyone and for good. Michael and Jo discuss how SafeLives utilised their networks to ensure the voices of victims and survivors of domestic abuse were heard and that their needs...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, is talking with Chris McLoughlin, Director of Children’s Services at Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (@chrismcDCS). They discuss how Stockport has reacted to the challenges posed by COVID-19, creating an effective multi-agency response, taking stock of physical and emotional wellbeing, and what it’s...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast. You can read our report on Care-experienced Young People and Higher Education: https://whatworks-csc.org.uk/research-report/care-experienced-young-people-and-higher-education/ Find out more about our joint call, in partnership with Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) for evidence and practice on programmes which aim to increase the progression to, and success in, higher education,...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, is talking with Colum Conway, Chief Executive of Social Work England. They discuss how Social Work England has transformed to remote working in order to continue to fulfill its duties as a regulator. Colum also discusses how Social Work England is working to strengthen and replenish the workforce to...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode, Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, is talking with LeeMauve Patron, Director of Services at Become, the national charity for children in care & young care leavers. They discuss how Become is assisting children and young people in care and young care leavers during this difficult time, as many struggle with the consequences of the...

Thank  you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In  this episode Dr Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, was joined by Steve Walker, Director of Strengthening Families, Protecting Children Improvement Programme at Leeds City Council (@SteveWLeeds). Among other things, Michael  and Steve discuss the importance of building strong partnerships with schools, in particular during this time, and the challenge...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode Dr Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, was joined by Andy Elvin, CEO of TACT (@Millinerstale1) You can find out more about the work TACT do here: https://www.tactcare.org.uk/ @TACTCare If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for upcoming topics, please get in touch by emailing [email protected] You can also follow us...

In this episode Dr Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care, was joined by Charlotte Ramsden, Strategic Director for People at Salford City Council (@charlottehrams1). In the episode, Charlotte discusses the work of Salford Youth Service. You can find out more about the group, and their daily #fighttheboredominsalfordchallenges here: https://twitter.com/wuu2salford https://www.wuu2.info/ You can find out more about the Salford Foundation and their Digital...

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children’s Social Care podcast. The host for this episode was Dr Michael Sanders, Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care. Michael was joined by Belinda Christian, Director of Practice at What Works for Children’s Social Care, and David Westlake, Research Fellow at the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) at Cardiff University. If you would like to find more about our pilot study looking at Devolved...