Examining the normalisation of trauma-informed care in children's social care

Background There are currently over 80,000 children in England who are in the care of the state.

Many of these children have been exposed to multiple traumatic events and whilst some children in care (CIC) demonstrate considerable resilience and achieve success in their lives, there is growing concern about the impact of trauma upon the mental health of CIC.

To address this priority social care problem, many children s social care departments are seeking to introduce trauma-informed care; a system wide approach which seeks to recognise and respond to the impact of trauma.

However, there is a paucity of research examining how to implement a trauma-informed approach within children s social care, and whether this improves care.

Aims and objectives This project will examine the process of normalisation over time of trauma-informed care within children s social care.

The specific objectives are to: Work in partnership with CIC throughout the project to ensure their voice is central to the project design, delivery, and findings. Examine the extent to which trauma-informed care is normalised within services supporting CIC.

Examine the factors that appear to facilitate or hinder the normalisation of trauma-informed care within services supporting CIC at i) an individual practitioner; ii) organisation and iii) system level. Estimate the effectiveness of trauma-informed care for CIC aged 5-17-years.

To evaluate the costs and consequences of trauma-informed care for CIC aged 5-17-years in the form of a cost-consequence analysis.

Methods This project will take a mixed method prospective case study design to examine the implementation of trauma-informed care. Case studies will allow in-depth exploration of trauma-informed care within services supporting CIC.

An integrated outcome evaluation will estimate effectiveness within the real-world setting, accounting for the varying degrees of workability and integration of the approach over time and estimate the cost consequence.

We will use participatory methods throughout the project to ensure ethical and trauma-informed inclusion of the child s voice.

The agentic involvement of CIC will result in research that is co-produced with CIC; wherein CIC influence the design, data collection, analysis and dissemination of the research. Timelines for delivery The project duration is 30 months.

Anticipated impact and dissemination The project will produce actionable findings on how to normalise trauma-informed care, supporting the scaling-up to other localities, social care settings and service user groups. We will disseminate our findings to a large social care practice audience.

To maximise impact, we will do this via regional and national networks and including: An infographic Practice briefings and newsletters Webinars & dissemination events We will also produce three articles which we will publish in peer reviewed academic journals.