Dr Rebecca Jones

Overview

I am a Research Associate at CASCADE, where my research focusses on improving outcomes for families who in contact with social services. I am particularly motivated by understanding how trusted adult relationships can make a difference for children and young people in the care system. This extends beyond my research interests; I am a Supported Lodgings carer for teenagers leaving care and an Independent Visitor.  

My research interests include: community approaches to supporting lifelong relationships for children in/leaving care, family participation in court proceedings, and implementation and evaluation of interventions in statutory social work settings. I also have an interest in understanding what constitutes effective social work practice. As part of this, I led on the development of the PRISM database, a repository of social work practice recordings. I have spent significant time as an embedded researcher in Local Authorities across England and Wales, giving me deep understanding of statutory social work contexts.

I am currently Principal Investigator on a Realist-informed Impact and Process Evaluation (IPE) of the Young People's Participation Pathway (YPPP) in the family court and on an evaluation readiness for the Weekenders programme, which builds lasting relationships for young people through offering one weekend per month of support, guidance, and fun activities with an additional foster carer. I am also working on a study exploring parents', social workers' and care experienced people's views on what good social work practice sounds like.

I have expertise in Q methodology, mixed-methods approaches to evaluation, and logic model and theory of change development. I am particularly interested in developing robust approaches to qualitative analysis that can be put to use in evaluations in children's social care. My PhD, a mixed-methods case study of Independent Visiting, challenged conventional approaches to policy evaluation and contributed to understanding how non-professionals can support children in care to build community networks.