Coram is marking the formal opening of the home of the Coram Institute for Children with an event taking place today (16th October) on its historic campus in Bloomsbury, central London.
The Institute will be the UK’s very first ‘think and do’ centre solely dedicated to advancing the life chances of children and young people, both at home and internationally, and committed to turning insight into impact in both policy and practice.
It incorporates Coram’s existing portfolio of research activity and has at its heart the views and experiences gained from delivering services to hundreds of thousands of children and young people, informed by our experience as the country’s first and longest continuing children’s charity since being established as the Foundling Hospital in 1739.
Coram has a lengthy track record of delivering research, with two established research teams: Coram Research, Impact and Evaluation, who for more than 15 years have partnered with national and local government, the NHS, think tanks and other third sector organisations to deliver large evaluations of significant policies and programmes; and Coram International, which has worked in almost 100 countries, promoting and improving children’s rights through policy and practice reform.
Participatory research with children and young people to ensure their voices are heard is at the heart of our research, and we use a variety of methods to ensure their voices are included.
Our ambition is to be a leading UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) independent research organisation, dedicated to working on a wide range of research projects spanning the issues that affect children and young people, and our application to the UKRI is currently under consideration.
Key recent Coram research includes:
Randomised Controlled Trial of Family Group Conferences: the first Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) in the UK was conducted by Coram and directly influenced the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. This research underpinned the government’s decision to mandate family networking meetings in England in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament;
Understanding the wellbeing of children in care: Coram’s Bright Spots programme has been working with children in care and care leavers for over a decade to understand what they feel is important to have a good life. It has been a major force behind ensuring local authorities use children and young people’s voices to inform direct service development and a significant influence on national policy including the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the Government’s subsequent reform of children’s social care;
Addressing child marriage in South Asia: Coram International recently carried out a meta-synthesis and meta-analysis of evidence on measures and interventions to prevent child marriage in South Asia, identifying and appraising relevant evidence on ‘what works to prevent child marriage in the South Asian Region,’ including in humanitarian and fragile contexts and for minority or extremely vulnerable populations. The overarching purpose was to enhance learning and facilitate evidence-based decision-making to improve the design of future interventions in the South Asia region. The findings have been used by UNICEF South Asia to guide the next phase of its programming to end child marriage.
Dr Carol Homden, Coram CEO, said: “The digital-first generation of children and young people faces new as well as age-old challenges and the Coram Institute for Children aims to make positive change happen through high quality research and youth insight driving policy and practice. Working with partners from public, private and voluntary sectors we aim to change the odds of the next generation and ensure that we truly are a society that cares.”
Max Stanford, Head of Coram Research, Impact and Evaluation, said: “Today marks the start of our ambition to be a leading centre for research and insight working directly with children and young people to influence policy and practice through robust, inclusive research and evaluation.”
Professor Dame Carolyn Hamilton, Director of Coram International, said: “By pursuit of multi-country studies, large scale data sets and longitudinal analysis, the Coram Institute for Children aims to make a distinctive contribution to the research agenda and support the realisation of the commitments of the UNCRC for children in the UK and worldwide.”
For more information on the Coram Institute for Children, click here.