Living Assessment

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Participants

Call for participants 2022-24 - Do you have experience of children health & social care assessments as a parent/carer, or for yourself or as a professional?

Do you have experience of children health & social care assessments? Or experience of NOT obtaining an assessment despite your efforts? Or do you have professional experience of such assessments, maybe for example as social worker or an educational psychologist? 

What assessments? Well, we are exploring most children assessments such as SEN/EHCP, CAMHS, CAFCASS – if unsure, please contact us at livingassessment@kent.ac.uk

Can you spare a couple of hours over Zoom to share your experience and thoughts with one of our researchers in total confidence and anonymity? 

Following the interview, participants receive access codes to £50s worth of vouchers of their choice.

Please email livingassessment@kent.ac.uk for more info and to organise your interview. Feel free to forward to your contacts with relevant experience.

We are interviewing:

·         Parents whose children have undergone assessments – for SEN and/or other health and social care support. The children who were assessed can be adults or children now so people can reflect on the present or the past – we are interested in seeing if people’s experiences have changed over time.

·         People who are over 18 and who have experienced assessments for SEN and/or other health and social care needs when they were children.

·         Parents who are/were unable to get an assessment for SEN and/or other health and social care needs – although they might have wanted one. How did that affect their child and their family?

·         Professionals involved in children health & social care assessments.

Researchers at the University of Kent are trying to understand more about what it is really like to be assessed in order to receive support from children’s services. Decisions made during assessments are really important, so we would like to interview parents, carers and adults (over 18) who experienced assessments, and individuals who have assessed families so we can learn about their experiences and offer evidence to policymakers that can influence changes that will improve people’s lives.

This is part of a major 5-year Wellcome Trust funded Collaborative Award called Living Assessments which brings the University of Kent, the University of Cambridge and the National Children’s Bureau together to build a full picture of what the assessment process is like, what works and how it can be improved.

If you would like to participate in the Living Assessments Project or would like to get more information, get in touch livingassessment@kent.ac.uk