Future of Care

National charity, Become, is working with the Rees Centre to develop a new tool to measure the success of care leavers. They will be working with young people who are leaving or have left care to better understand what success means to them and when they think success should be measured. 


Outline Methodology

Organised by researchers Dr Nikki Luke and Dr Áine Kelly, this mixed-methods study will investigate what ‘success’ means to a range of stakeholders. Central to the work will be gaining the perspective of care leavers and those just about to leave care. There will be four phases of work, each developed with a care experienced design group who will co-produce research materials and outputs, which are:

  1. Collect professional stakeholders’ views on the indicators of success, how they might be measured and how they might be used to improve services.
  2. Use focus groups in four local authorities to understand in much greater detail how care leavers think about ‘success’, how it might change during the lifespan, and how and where it might be measured.
  3. Incorporate all the findings into a tool that will be piloted in four local authorities and then adapted in response to feedback.
  4. Roll-out the revised tool to 10 local authorities across England, analyse the findings and produce final reports.

The aims and objectives of the study are to gain a much better understanding of what ‘success’ means to care leavers and how it can be measured.


Research Questions

The study will address the following questions:

  • How is success currently measured for care leavers?
  • Do different stakeholders view success differently? Where do they agree and where do they differ? How does this affect what is measured?
  • What does ‘success’ mean to young people who have recently left or will soon be leaving care?   
  • Who should measure success? How and when should it be measured?


About the research design group

The Future of Care group, also known as the advisory group to help design and inform the project, has 12 young people involved from the ages of 21-25. Members will meet three times a year for three years.

 

About Become

Become is the national charity for children in care and young care leavers. For 30 years, the charity has stood shoulder to shoulder with care-experienced young people, helping them get the support they need right now and changing the system for future generations.

To find out more, visit www.BecomeCharity.org.uk