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  • Coram-i Innovation Forum hears about the innovation helping children and young people nationwide

    Coram-i

    Coram-i Innovation Forum hears about the innovation helping children and young people nationwide

    2 Feb 2024

       Over one hundred children’s sector professionals came together on Friday on the Coram campus to hear about some of the exciting innovation happening across the country aiming to improve outcomes for children and young people. The Forum marked the publication of the Coram Innovation Incubator’s (CII) 2024 Innovation…

  • Reimagining Case Management Systems

    Coram-i

    Reimagining Case Management Systems

    6 Sep 2023

    The Coram Innovation Incubator is delighted to be hosting the second session in our webinar series with North Yorkshire Council, showcasing the development of a new technology solution to help social workers keep children safe, on Monday 2nd October from 3:30pm-5pm. During this webinar, Jonny Hoyle, Development Lead for…

  • “You won’t see things around you in the same way again”

    Coram-i

    “You won’t see things around you in the same way again”

    8 Jun 2023

    “Objects & Their Stories” is a new course developed by Coram-i and CoramBAAF designed for foster carers and social workers to help support their personal and professional development. In this blog, Morven Nelson reflects on her experience of attending the sessions. About me I’m a Life Story Co-ordinator and…

  • The CII Innovation Collective 2022-23

    Coram-i

    The CII Innovation Collective 2022-23

    27 Mar 2023

    This year’s CII Innovation Collective is now available to download   Every year the Coram Innovation Incubator produces the CII Innovation Collective which collates and reports on innovative projects and approaches which have been developed to tackle key challenges facing our sector. You can now read the 2022-23…

  • The CII Innovation Forum 2023

    Coram-i

    The CII Innovation Forum 2023

    8 Mar 2023

    The Coram Innovation Incubator is delighted to invite you to a special Innovation Forum for children’s services leaders. The event takes place on Friday 24th March at the Coram Campus in London and…

  • Data visualisation in Children’s Social Care

    Coram-i · Data analysis · Sharing Learning

    Data visualisation in Children’s Social Care

    9 Feb 2023

    The use of quantitative data in children’s social care is still in its infancy when compared with other sectors, and this immaturity means that developments in the various methodologies designed to act as an aid to human decision making, and indeed the understanding of whether our interventions work, is suboptimal.

  • Envisaging a New Model of Care: Learning from innovations in the USA

    Coram Innovation Incubator

    Envisaging a New Model of Care: Learning from innovations in the USA

    18 Oct 2022

    Part 2 of our Coram Innovation Webinar 4pm Tuesday 25th October With the number of children and young people entering the care system growing rapidly, it is becoming increasingly difficult for authorities to find suitable local homes which offer security and stability, whether in foster, kinship or residential care. Across…

  • Is life story work working?

    Adoption support · Creative Therapies · Evaluation · Events · Professional Development · Sharing Learning · Social Work · Young People

    Is life story work working?

    17 Oct 2022

    Sarah Taylor, Head of Coram’s Impact and Evaluation Team, reflects on a recent Coram conference on models of life story work and their outcomes Social workers, researchers, therapists and others gathered recently on Coram’s Bloomsbury campus to share new evidence and ideas on how life story work can and should…

  • “Everyone should do this course!”

    Adoption · Childcare · Coram-i · Foster Care · Professional Development · Social Work · Training

    “Everyone should do this course!”

    10 Aug 2022

    Earlier this year Lorna Jackson was one of the first people to complete a new course developed by Coram called “Objects & Their Stories”. The sessions, presented by Coram-i and CoramBAAF, are designed for foster carers and social workers to help support their personal and professional development. In this…

  • Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Final Report

    Coram-i

    Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Final Report

    23 May 2022

    The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Final Report has been published today. The Department for Education commissioned review calls for a fundamental reset of the children’s social care system, with an investment of £2.6bn to fund a five-year programme of reform, to include more support for vulnerable…

  • The 2nd Coram Innovation Incubator Annual Innovation Report

    Coram-i

    The 2nd Coram Innovation Incubator Annual Innovation Report

    4 Apr 2022

    The Coram Innovation Incubator (CII) today released its second annual innovation report “The Art of the Possible in Children’s Services: A Coram Manifesto”. The report is based on the national innovation survey, distributed to all children’s services providers at the end of 2021, which sought to assess where…

  • The Art of The Possible

    Coram-i

    The Art of The Possible

    31 Mar 2022

    The Coram Innovation Incubator (CII) is determined to support the children’s social care sector to identify and implement the solutions which can make a tangible difference to the lives of children and young people. With rapid advancements in technological capabilities over recent years, digital innovation offers a…

  • Collaboration + innovation = better outcomes for children & young people

    Coram-i

    Collaboration + innovation = better outcomes for children & young people

    10 Jan 2022

    The latest Coram Innovation Incubator (CII) webinar explored the ingredients for succcesful collaboration. Sylvie Travers the CII’s Assistant Project Manager reflects on how, in a time of unprecedented need, our sector can succesfully work together to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people. The challenges faced…

  • Coram online NVR group for parents who have adopted – responding to COVID-19

    Coram-i

    Coram online NVR group for parents who have adopted – responding to COVID-19

    15 Mar 2021

    From July to September 2020 Coram Creative Therapies ran three groups for parents who have adopted, adapting NVR for an online delivery. One group of parents were based in London, the other in two in the North West of England. The project was supported by the Adoption Support Fund (ASF).

  • Youth violence – we have the evidence, but do we have the will?

    Coram-i · crime · Parents & Carers · Young People

    Youth violence – we have the evidence, but do we have the will?

    10 Mar 2021

    While we at Coram fully endorse the analysis and recommendations made by the Children’s Commissioner in her report Still not Safe: The public health response to youth violence I do not believe it goes far enough. Our daily work with children and young people provides ample evidence of the…

  • Coram-i and Croydon Council

    Coram-i · Fostering · Permanence · Sharing Learning

    Coram-i and Croydon Council

    5 Jan 2021

    We are pleased to announce that the contract between Coram-i and Croydon Council has now come to a successful end. In 2018 the London borough of Croydon decided to end its dependence on external agencies for the provision of its foster carers. The LA, with a looked after population of…

  • Socially-distanced Adoption Activity Day

    Coram-i

    Socially-distanced Adoption Activity Day

    13 Aug 2020

    After months of lockdown and a few postponed Adoption Activity Days (AADs), we were delighted to run our first socially-distanced AAD at the Coram Campus on 30 July. With delays affecting every stage of the adoption system, the important work of family finding must continue. For many children attending an…

  • The challenge of ‘permanence’

    Coram-i · Events · Permanence

    The challenge of ‘permanence’

    10 Jan 2020

    Over 100 young people and professionals came together at Coram’s event on how to achieve permanence for children and young people in care. The audience on 25 November 2019 heard ideas and experiences about the idea of ‘permanence’ – which is much more than just a placement. The audience…

  • London Schools – did you know?

    Coram-i · Data analysis

    London Schools – did you know?

    30 Oct 2019

    Our friends at SchoolDash have shared with us some interesting insights into London they have gleaned from the data they have collated for their SchoolDash product and we thought you might like to see it. Go to their website to see more! 1. London has the…

  • Why are so many Roma young people excluded from school?

    Coram-i

    Why are so many Roma young people excluded from school?

    22 Aug 2019

    Earlier this year Coram published its report ‘Unfair results: pupil and parent views on school exclusion’ which contributed to the recent government review of school exclusions. We focused on hearing the views of parents whose child had been excluded and also children with and without personal experience of exclusion.

  • The child behind the profile – Activity Days for Fostering

    Activity Days · Coram-i · Fostering

    The child behind the profile – Activity Days for Fostering

    26 Jun 2019

    Adoption Activity Days, an opportunity for prospective adopters to meet children awaiting adoption, are now a well-established means of family finding. However, facilitating the same opportunity for children requiring permanency via fostering is still a relatively new concept. On the 31st March 2018, just over 53,000 children and young…

  • Missing looked after children

    Coram-i

    Missing looked after children

    26 Mar 2019

    The latest data on children looked after in England (including adoption) was published in November 2018[1]. There are some continuing trends in the looked after children (LAC) data, including the continued fall in the number of LAC who are being adopted, which we have discussed in previous blog…

  • The Impact of the Adoption Register

    Adoption · Coram-i · Data analysis · Matching

    The Impact of the Adoption Register

    4 Mar 2019

    Analysis has shown that there is a national shortage of adopters with a 7% decline in the number of people approved as adopters, according to a 2018 data recently published by the Adoption Leadership Board. Despite a rise in the number of children taken into care, the sector is facing…

  • Adoption data and Collective Matching

    Adoption · Coram-i · Data analysis · Matching · Regional adoption agencies

    Adoption data and Collective Matching

    12 Feb 2019

    Last week the ASGLB published data on adoption covering the period 1 April to 30 September 2018 [1]. It is the first time in several years that the ASGLB has published the latest available data before the next round of data collection is completed, and is the closest…

  • Ofsted’s annual fostering data collection 2017/18

    Data analysis · Fostering

    Ofsted’s annual fostering data collection 2017/18

    5 Feb 2019

    Data on fostering in England for 2017/18 [1] was published at the end of January and while it contains some interesting insights it raises a lot more questions than it answers. For a start the data is collected by Ofsted via an annual data return [2] and…

  • Data Visualisation in Social Care

    Coram-i · Data analysis

    Data Visualisation in Social Care

    21 Dec 2018

    On Monday 10th December over 100 social care practitioners, academics and data experts gathered at Coram’s new Queen Elizabeth II Centre to share promising innovations and ideas about using data visualisation to improve the support for children who need help from local authority children’s services. Coram and its partners,…

  • Family Drug and Alcohol Court

    Family Drug & Alcohol Court · Parents & Carers · Sharing Learning

    Family Drug and Alcohol Court

    18 Dec 2018

    By Dr Sheena Webb Children with adverse experiences Most children involved with the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) have experienced a long period of instability and adversity prior to entering the service. Returning to a safer home environment, with parents who are no longer using substances, is clearly beneficial…

  • Adoption in England – can we predict the state of the system?

    Adoption · Coram-i · Data analysis · Matching · Regional adoption agencies

    Adoption in England – can we predict the state of the system?

    3 Dec 2018

    Adoption data for the financial year 2017/18 is now available and while some aspects look more positive, following revisions to previously published data, there are still causes for concern. In addition to my analysis of this data, this month I am going to make a prediction about…

  • Adoption in England – a system under pressure?

    Adoption · Coram-i · Data analysis · Matching

    Adoption in England – a system under pressure?

    15 Oct 2018

    The latest national data on adoption in England has just been published[1].  A hard look at this data reveals that underneath some positive headlines there is clear evidence that more children are coming into the system now than leaving and there are now not enough adopters available to…

  • ‘Early Permanence’: Foster to Adopt Placements – the Approach and Benefits

    Adoption · Fostering · Fostering for Adoption · Matching

    ‘Early Permanence’: Foster to Adopt Placements – the Approach and Benefits

    25 Sep 2018

    Coram first set up a concurrent planning programme in 1999, placing babies with carers who were dually approved as adopters and as foster carers.  The babies were all subject to care proceedings and were selected for this project on the basis that the prior family history and the assessments of…

  • Introducing our new blog series

    Coram-i

    Introducing our new blog series

    24 Sep 2018

    Coram-i is pleased to announce it is launching a new monthly blog series featuring opinion, insight and analysis from experts across Coram’s heads of departments, partners and associates.   These blogs are an opportunity to share more detail about Coram’s different work strands, the issues that influence these areas, the…

  • Understanding why I was taken into care…

    Coram-i · Fostering · Sharing Learning · Young People

    Understanding why I was taken into care…

    30 Jan 2018

    Coram-i has undertaken an innovative area of work supporting a local authority to complete Historical Letters for looked after children in permanent foster placements, similar to Later Life Letters in Adoption. Historical Letters in Fostering give older children access to the reasons why they were taken into care and factual…

  • Adoption Activity Days in early 2018

    Coram-i

    Adoption Activity Days in early 2018

    22 Dec 2017

    Adoption Activity Days allow prospective adopters to meet a range of children waiting to be adopted in a safe, supportive and fun environment. You can see them in action by watching ‘Finding me a Family’ on the 4oD website. We already have three dates in the diary for 2018, so…

  • Permanency Planning and Long Term Fostering Innovation Project

    Coram-i · Fostering · Sharing Learning

    Permanency Planning and Long Term Fostering Innovation Project

    28 Nov 2017

    In November 2017, Coram-i held a seminar as part of its project on Permanency Planning and Long Term Fostering, which is funded by the Department for Education’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme. The event brought together the four pilot sites involved in the project (Manchester City Council, Northamptonshire County…

  • Adoption Activity Days

    Coram-i

    Adoption Activity Days

    18 Oct 2017

    “We just knew that he was the child for us, older than we ever had imagined but his personality so shone through on the day.” Autumn is upon us and Coram’s Adoption Activity Days (AAD) team have been busy planning for the next run of these family finding events, which…

  • Activity Days for Fostering

    Fostering

    Activity Days for Fostering

    14 Sep 2017

    Following the success of Adoption Activity Days, these events for fostering aim to focus on securing families for children who need to remain looked after under fostering arrangements. The ethos of the events remains the same, in that the emphasis is on bringing together children and young people who are…

  • Adopter sufficiency

    Adoption · Matching

    Adopter sufficiency

    14 Aug 2017

    There is a growing concern that there are not enough prospective adopters available for all the children who are waiting to be adopted. A high level analysis I conducted in January 2017 using published data for 2015/16 concluded that there would soon not be enough prospective adopters available and this has…

  • Coram awarded innovation funding!

    Coram-i

    Coram awarded innovation funding!

    2 Feb 2017

    Coram has been awarded funding from Department for Education’s Social Care Innovation Programme to work with four local authorities to help them make better use of data to improve the stability of long-term foster placements. Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, Director of Operations at Coram said: “We are delighted to receive this…

  • RAA delivery models

    Regional adoption agencies

    RAA delivery models

    15 Sep 2016

    I’d like to get your thoughts on what potential benefits there would be for a VAA that partnered with a local authority to form a Regional Adoption Agency Joint Venture. For a LA I think it’s relatively straightforward – they at least get an adoption service that meets their needs (hopefully!) For VAAs,…

  • Coram-i website is now live

    Coram-i

    Coram-i website is now live

    14 Sep 2016

    The website will be home to our resources so that you will be able to access them all in one place. The content has been organised into categories to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Some content will be available to everyone and some…