Adela Kay, Assistant Headteacher at Aspire Virtual School, has conducted in-depth research on a variety of pressing issues affecting children and young people within our community.

For April’s research, Adela explores a range of issues affecting children and young people, including updates to the Children and Wellbeing Bill, changes to Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, new guidance on attendance, findings on race, ethnicity and culture in practice, knife crime and county lines exploitation, the experiences of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, domestic abuse in pregnancy, and early years screen use.

Below you’ll find summaries and links to the latest research and reports relevant to our work with children and families.

Sibling Contact for Children in Care

Some of the amendments are associated with promoting sibling contact for siblings in care to promote emotional stability and long-term wellbeing.  This responds to evidence that sibling relationships provide continuity, emotional support, and a sense of belonging particularly where other family ties have been disrupted.  The new law will place sibling contacts on an equal footing with parental contact for the first time and applies to full, half and stepsiblings.  Contact must be promoted unless it is not in the child’s best interest.

📌 Read here: New legislation to keep brothers and sisters connected in care – GOV.UK

 

Elective Home Education

The bill has also been amended with regards to Elective Home Education to allow the local authority to refuse permission for home education if there has ever been a child protection plan enquiry regardless of the outcome and if there is a current child in need plan.  This is really quite a big extension.  The bill already allowed LAs to prevent home education for young people on a child protection plan (this was in light of the tragedy of Sara Sharif) however many more children have had S47 investigations or are on CIN plans so the scope for this is potentially more complex for EHE teams and encompasses significantly more children.

📌 Read here: Updates – Home Education Advisory Service

 

Updates to Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026

This is a briefing paper highlighting updates to Working Together to Safeguard Children, updated in 2026 to replace the 2023 version.

Broadly, the updates include changes to multi-agency working to help protect and promote children’s welfare, particularly around identifying:

• racism and discrimination
• the specific needs and experiences of babies
• the impact of domestic abuse on children and families
• children experiencing multiple harms
• strengthened inclusion of children in care
• the link between online harm and harm experienced in person

It also links in wider support beyond the family which can be utilised to support children and young people.

📌 Read here:

• Working together to safeguard children – GOV.UK
• Key changes introduced in Working together to safeguard children 2026

 

Attendance

In its continuing drive to improve school attendance, the government has produced guidance for social workers on how they can support school attendance. This includes what to look out for when working with families and how to challenge poor attendance practices in the home.

I also attended a briefing around Ofsted inspection preparation and attendance, which shared figures on the long-term financial impact of absence. The claim was that someone who was persistently absent in secondary school could earn £100,000 less at age 28 than a pupil with near perfect attendance. For each additional day of absence between Year 7–11, a typical pupil could miss out on an average of £750 in future lifetime earnings.

📌 Read here:

• Social workers and other practitioners: attendance considerations – GOV.UK
• Why school attendance matters, and what we’re doing to improve it  – The Education Hub

 

Race Ethnicity and Culture

There has been a National Practice Review around race looking specifically at how race is reflected in recent case reviews. It has been noted that race and cultural differences are often ignored or dismissed in records.

The NSPCC has published learning from case reviews which highlights how professionals should:

• be aware of how racial and unconscious bias can affect practice
• seek out the voices of children from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic backgrounds
• understand cultural and societal barriers affecting access to services

📌 Read here : Race, ethnicity and culture: learning from case reviews – NSPCC

 

Knife Crime

The Home Office has launched a plan to reduce knife crime across the UK, aiming to halve it within a decade.

There is funding for schools through the Safety in and Around Schools Partnership, which will invest £1.2m to support schools in areas of high knife crime. This will use new mapping technology to identify specific locations and times where knife crime occurs.

The policy is based on a four-point strategy: Support, Stop, Police and End.

📌 Read here: Protecting Lives, Building Hope – A Plan to Halve Knife Crime

 

County Lines

Recent reporting highlights the increasing number of girls and young women being identified as victims of county lines exploitation.

Data shows they made up 22% of a national caseload in 2025, up from 15% the previous year. Concerns remain that a traditionally gendered view has led to girls being under-identified and less likely to receive formal support.

📌 Read here: Rise in number of girls being identified as victims in county lines exploitation – The Guardian

 

Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

Recent articles highlight concerns around age-disputed children being detained, preventing access to care and impacting mental health.

Additional research highlights rising deaths among unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, with the majority attributed to suicide and increasing numbers in recent years. The research calls for stronger protections and improved review processes.

📌 Read here: 

UK has detained ‘age-disputed’ children under one in, one out scheme – The Guardian
Rising deaths of unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people – Da’aro Youth Project

 

Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy

The NSPCC has produced a series of expert insight videos on domestic abuse in pregnancy, including the impact on the unborn baby and wider family.

📌 Read here: Domestic abuse in pregnancy: expert insight videos – NSPCC

 

Early Years: Screen Use

The DfE has published an independent review and guidance on screen use in under 5s. It emphasises a precautionary approach and recognises that screens cannot replace real-world interaction, play and relationships.

The guidance includes age-related recommendations and highlights the importance of modelling good habits and maintaining screen-free routines.

📌 Read here: 

Screen use by children aged under five: independent report
Baby and toddler screen time guidance – Best Start in Life

 

Hope you have a lovely sunny weekend,

Adela