Evidence into Practice call: Working with local authorities to put evidence into practice to strengthen services for children and families

Nimal Jude, Head of Practice Development at Foundations, reflects on why Foundations new Evidence into Practice call is an opportunity for genuine change. We are on the cusp of major transformation in children’s services. National reform across ‘Best Start Family Hubs’, Family Help and Children’s Social Care is happening, backed up by significant Spending Review […]

The Foundations Guidebook: A new tool to help more children and families get the right support

Deputy Chief Executive Donna Molloy shares more about the new Foundations Guidebook, and the role it plays in helping decision makers improve outcomes for children and families. This blog first appeared on Children & Young People Now. Today, we’ve launched the new Foundations Guidebook – a free online tool to help more children and families […]

Building the evidence on effective mentoring and befriending support for care-experienced children and young people

Nimal Jude, Head of Foundations’ new Practice Development Team, introduces the latest Practice Guide for local leaders. The Guide, commissioned by the Department for Education and produced by Foundations, draws on powerful new evidence from a systematic review, conducted by Liverpool John Moores University, about the benefits of mentoring and befriending for care-experienced children and […]

The power of mentoring: What it meant for me

In this blog, Princess Bestman, Arts and Wellbeing Practitioner, Care Advocate and advisory group member for the Mentoring and Befriending Practice Guide, reflects on their experience of mentoring, the impact that it can have, and why it is so important. It’s been interesting to be part of the Advisory Group for the upcoming Mentoring and […]

Parenting Through Adversity Practice Guide (0-10): Building the evidence on effective parenting support

In this blog, Deputy Chief Executive Donna Molloy unpacks the recommendations in the latest Practice Guide on parenting support for families facing adversity. Today (7 February 2025) sees the launch of the second in a series of national Practice Guides commissioned by the Department of Education and produced by Foundations to support the implementation of […]

Now is the time for policy that is serious about scaling up effective parenting support

In this blog, Foundations’ Deputy Chief Executive, Donna Molloy, and Nesta’s Deputy Director of the Fairer Start Mission, Louise Bazalgette, reflect on the opportunity to transform access to effective, evidence-based parenting support in the UK. Parenting support is one of the best evidenced ways to improve outcomes for children, helping parents to address problems early […]

Building the evidence to support kinship carers and the children they care for 

Aoife O’Higgins, Director of Evidence announces our new funding call to strengthen the evidence base on what works to support kinship families.  Last week Foundations launched a call for funding that invites Expressions of Interest from organisations which support kinship families and want to participate in high quality evaluation of their services. This work will […]

Chief Social Worker Isabelle Trowler welcomes first Practice Guide

In this guest blog, Chief Social Worker Isabelle Trowler shares her insights on the first national Practice Guide on Kinship Care, developed by Foundations and commissioned by the Department for Education. It’s an important week for kinship families. The increasing policy focus on improving support for kinship carers offers a huge opportunity to improve outcomes […]

Practice Guides: Embedding evidence in Children’s Social Care

How can we support local authorities to use the best available evidence to improve practice in Children’s Social Care? Next week Foundations will publish the first in a series of new national Practice Guides that provide local authorities and partner organisations with the most up-to-date and rigorous evidence yet about ‘what works’ in Children’s Social […]

Four key principles to help turn the new Labour government’s commitments into effective policy 

Last week’s change in government presents a huge opportunity to reset and refocus on the most pressing issues facing children, young people and families. Our Chief Executive Dr Jo Casebourne sets out four key principles that can help ensure the policy vision of the manifesto turns into reality.

Building the evidence to support child victims of domestic abuse 

Aoife O’Higgins, Director of Evidence, explains how we will build the evidence needed to transform domestic abuse services, working closely with partners, over the next five years. Last week we launched REACH – Researching Effective Approaches for Children – an ambitious five-year plan to tackle domestic abuse and the damaging impact it has on children […]

Calling local champions: help us build the evidence needed to tackle domestic abuse

As Foundations publishes its ambitious new five year plan to find out what works to prevent domestic abuse and support child victims, Ben Lewing, Assistant Director for Local Development reflects on why this matters. How we respond to victims of domestic abuse and protect our children from its effects feels like a defining issue for […]