Project Director: Alice Hulbert, Sonnet Impact
Project Duration: 2022
In 2010 Jim Clifford undertook three reviews for PACT, exploring the social impact of aspects of their work. One of these was Clifford, J. (2011). PACT Domestic Adoption and Fostering: SROI Evaluation. Reading. PACT. and London. Baker Tilly, known as ‘The PACT Report’. This explored the value brought by therapeutic adoption, and therapeutically-informed fostering from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders.
Widely acclaimed at the time, and referenced in the Narey report amongst others, it is now over ten years’ old. It is still being used by VAAs in their discussions with Local Authorities, but would benefit from being revisited and updated in a number of respects, including:
- The changes in the adoption landscape and practice since 2010
- The contrast between placements in England, and those in Wales and Scotland
- Changes in understanding of the wider impacts of therapeutic parenting
- Other studies and literature that are now available
- Improvements in impact measurement theory and practice
- The (relatively recent) developments in situational analysis and systems thinking in the arena of impact measurement
- Updates to the cost figures used and referenced.
This review takes a mixed methods approach, with a literature review, an analysis of the policy environment over twelve years, a qualitative exploration through workshops of professionals involved in child placement through the three forms of permanence , supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders, and a quantitative analysis of two aspects: data sets from other surveys of the adoptive and fostering sectors, and an economic quantification of the outcomes, primary and secondary, discovered.
The work will inform policy makers, social services and voluntary sector providers, and the judiciary in developing forms of permanence for children.
A report entitled, 'A home for me? A comparative review of the value of different forms of permanence for children – Adoption, SGOs and Fostering' has been published and is available to read on the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies website.
The project team includes Prof. Jim Clifford OBE (Sonnet Impact), Alice Hulbert (Sonnet Impact), Emily Hutchison (Sonnet Impact), Jake Kemp (Sonnet Impact), Molly Turrell (Sheffield Hallam University).
