For at least the last decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly been seen as a possible answer to how to make public services more efficient.

This study examines the presence of compassion fatigue among foster and kinship carers in the United Kingdom and explores factors associated with it using survey data from 180 caregivers. Findings indicate that carers experience higher levels of compassion fatigue than helping professionals, with greater fatigue linked to lower parenting satisfaction, attachment avoidance, and unmet expectations of social support, highlighting important implications for social and clinical support systems.

The article reports that a new batch of case reports from child protection court proceedings in Ireland reveals “significant and serious systemic issues” in the country’s care system, according to the Children’s Rights Alliance, which welcomed the

The Irish Times reports that vulnerable children in Ireland’s care system are spending up to three years in “unregulated” emergency accommodation because of severe shortages in suitable, regulated placements.

The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has found that hundreds of vulnerable children in England’s care were placed for months in “illegal” homes, settings not registered with the national regulator Ofsted, due to severe shortages

Whether we always know it or not, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a now an element of many of the digital and electronic tools many of us use every day in our professional and personal lives.

This blog, from Hope and Homes for Children, argues that the new Netflix documentary Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within—produced with the involvement of Harry and Meghan and set in a Ugandan orphanage—presents a superficially heartwarming story that risks reinforcing harmful perceptions about institutional care at a time when global leaders, including the UK, are advocating for family-based care and ending orphanages.

This article describes how thousands of adults who grew up in the UK care system continue to struggle to access their childhood care records — files that often hold the only written account of their early lives and decisions made about them.

This report from the Coram Institute for Children marks the 50th anniversary of Coram Voice and highlights the Bright Spots programme, which captures the perspectives of children and young people in care and care leavers to inform local and national policy. Drawing on 27,000 responses collected between 2015 and 2024, the study focuses on what matters most to children and young people in their lives, emphasizing their voices rather than care system outcomes or reasons for entering care.

Ten kinship carers and a research team from the charity Kinship and Lancaster University coproduced this toolkit in three fun and creative workshops.