West Sussex Children's Services Procedures Manual

Social Work Learning Resources

1. Subscription

Research in Practice (RIP) - Helping all those working with children, young people and families to develop their knowledge and skills.

2. Open Resources

Foundations, the National What Works Centre for Children and Families - the merger of What Works for Children's Social Care (WWCSC) and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF);
Social Care Online (SCIE) - The UK's largest database of information and research on all aspects of social care and social work;
Local Authority Interactive Tool (LAIT) - An interactive spreadsheet for comparing data about children and young people across all local authorities in England;
National Child and Maternal Health Intelligence Network - Easy access to a wide range of information and knowledge relating to the health of children, young people and maternal health;
NSPCC Library - Resource library dedicated to child protection, child abuse and child neglect;
NSPCC Safeguarding Newsletters - newsletter to keep you up-to-date with child protection and safeguarding news and information;
Barnardo's research and publications - Research for child care professionals on subjects as diverse as child abuse and protection, fostering and adoption and health and disability;
The Children Society - Research specialises in areas including children and family relationships, children at risk on the streets and children's well-being;
NCB (National Children Bureau) - focusing on early years and education, health and well-being, and social care including corporate parenting, children in care, SEN and disability;
Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse - Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
The National FGM Centre - to keep children and young people safe from FGM and other Harmful Practices;
National Serious Case Review Repository - A single place for published case reviews to make it easier to access and share learning at a local, regional and national level;
The International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking - Increasing understanding of, and improving responses to, child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking;
Lawstuff - Coram Children's Legal Centre;
The Children's Commissioner for England - Our work focuses on making sure that adults in charge, or making decisions, listen to what children and young people say about things that affect them;
ADCS - ADCS provides the collective voice of professionals in children's services leadership roles on policy, practice and resourcing of the wide variety of services available to children, young people and their families;
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) - Looked-after babies, children and young people overview;
The NRPF Network - focuses on the statutory response to migrants with care needs who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF);
DfE Policy Children's Social Workers - What the government's doing about children's social work;
DfE Policy Looked-After Children and Adoption - What the government's doing about looked-after children and adoption;
IRISS Insights - Evidence summaries to support social services in Scotland (But still relevant to England);
College of Police – Authorised Professional Practice (APP) – APP is authorised by the College of Policing as the official source of professional practice on policing. Police officers and staff are expected to have regard to APP in discharging their responsibilities.

Last Updated: May 1, 2025

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