Designing ‘safe spaces’ for black children and young people in care placements with an emphasis on identity and voice
Project team
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Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Professor of the Sociology of Islam, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations
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Kusha Anand, Research Assistant, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations
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Ezechiel Sentama, Assistant Professor (Research), Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations
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Tam Cane, Senior Lecturer (Social Work and Social Care), University of Sussex
Collaborators
- University of Sussex (Co-Investigator)
Duration
15 February 2024 – 14 July 2025
Project overview
There is a distinct lack of research into the lived experiences of Black children and young people in care placements, which has resulted in little indication of how to support their specific needs. This project seeks to address this gap by creating ‘safe spaces’ for them and promoting their voice and discussion of their identity and culture.
Through co-produced and participatory approaches the project seeks to provide a space for them to articulate and realise their specific needs to develop a deep understanding of issues related to their experiences in care placements and suggest solutions on how to effectively support their specific needs.
The project team will collaborate and work with Black care-experienced children and young people in the UK to provide an evidence base that clarifies their ‘whole’ needs and the best ways to meet their needs whilst in care. We will use this evidence base to create safe spaces/environments where Black children and young people can raise their voice to articulate their needs and feel heard. The team will also use this evidence base to inform policy makers, social workers, decision makers and others to enhance the care Black children and young people receive.
Project objectives
- To understand the experiences and needs of Black children and young people while journeying through care;
- To explore their perspectives about how the received care can better accommodate and meet their ‘whole’ needs whilst they are in care;
- To design solutions on how to effectively provide ‘safe spaces’ for them and support their specific needs whilst in care placements.
Impact statement
The team’s vision is for this project’s rendering of Black children and young people’s identity and identity needs to percolate into further academic work, policy and practice. Research outcomes will follow three impact tracks:
- Conceptual: The research findings will be a threshold for academic and practice understandings of welfare and identity from the perspective of Black children and young people in care. By providing evidence in an innovative and empowering framework around how Black children and young people experience identity and welfare while in care, we will address a gap in the scholarly literature on the children and young people’s agency and advocacy in the care system.
- Instrumental: The research results will be shared with the public about the needs of Black children and young people in care, given a shortage of adopters and foster carers from Black backgrounds.
- Capacity Building: This final track is aimed at influencing frontline Social Work practice and top-level policy across the UK
Outputs
The outputs of 'Designing "safe spaces" for black children and young people in care placements' will include:
- One journal article (Target Journals: Child & Family Social Work, Research on Social Work Practice or Adoption and Fostering and Adoption Quarterly Journals);
- One conference paper to present the findings at relevant academic conferences to engage researchers across disciplines (e.g., EuSARF, British Sociological Association, Barnardo’s and other Local Authority annual conferences);
- Two blog articles to share our findings with community audiences;
- One short animated video to act as an information-sharing tool;
- Two workshops with Social Work practitioners, using children’s stories to improve literacy and decision-making of social work practitioners;
- One research report (approximately 50 pages);
- One frontline practice tool to be disseminated via our social work partners.
