Children & Young People
Childhood plays a pivotal role in who we become as adults: from our educational attainment and progression into work, to how we form relationships with others.
Children and young people are two of the most vulnerable groups in society, and forming a more complete understanding of their lives and of how early experiences affect later life is vital. Investing in research and policy around children and young people will allow us to not only safeguard and support the next generation, but enrich their lives and allow each child and young person the opportunity to excel.
Children and Young People is one of ADR UK’s flagship research themes. It is aimed at enabling a more comprehensive assessment of the experience of childhood in the UK to in turn develop a better understanding of what does and doesn’t work in public sector services for children and young people. This includes assessing trends in vulnerability, wellbeing and welfare in early life, and their impact upon later life experiences.
There are several ambitious new data linkage projects – as well as research projects using existing linked data – being undertaken across the partnership within this theme. These include, for example, linking together 2011 Census data with attainment data from the Department for Education (DfE) to create an anonymised longitudinal dataset on children in England: the ‘Growing Up in England’ dataset. Meanwhile, the ‘Understanding Children’s Outcomes’ project is working to link the pupil census data for Scotland with Scottish Government data on looked after children, children’s health, births and deaths, and the 2001/2011 national census.
ADR Northern Ireland (ADR NI) and ADR Wales are conducting important work examining the lives of looked-after children. In Northern Ireland, for example, 30 years’ worth of individual-level social services data from Social Services Care Administrative and Records Environment are being linked to prescribed medication data, hospital data, the registry of self-harm and death records and the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS), creating the UK’s first historical, population-wide cohort of those known to social services as children.
You can find out more about these projects and others underway within this theme by exploring the links below and visiting the ‘Projects’ page.
Children & Young People Projects
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Association between mental health disorders and patterns of education in children & young people
This project will explore associations between mental health disorders and poor school outcomes using linked routinely collected health and education datasets of the Welsh population.
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Exploring associations between mental health disorders and patterns of education
The aim of this study is to explore educational attainment, levels of school absenteeism and exclusion in Welsh children and young people diagnosed with mental health disorders and/or alcohol and drug misuse.
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Exploring the impact of the Welsh school-based counselling strategy
This is an e-cohort study of trends in the incidence of recorded depression and anxiety diagnoses and symptoms and antidepressant/anxiolytic prescriptions in children and young people in schools across Wales.
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Children & Young People News
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Report provides first insight into newborns in care proceedings in Wales
A team of researchers have become the first to produce a snapshot of the extent to which newborn babies and infants are subject to care proceedings in Wales using data sourced by ADR Wales.
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ADR Wales publication looks at impact of Welsh Government early years programme
ADR Wales has published the results of analysis of the Welsh Government’s Flying Start programme which helps families with children under four years old in disadvantaged areas of Wales.
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Data linking for the National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme
Ricky Taylor and Lan-Ho Man from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) share their experience using linked data to evaluate the 'Troubled Families' programme.
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Find out more
If you are a researcher interested in working with admistrative data within this theme, or a policymaker interested in how ADR UK work can improve your insights and support your decision making in this area, please get in touch.