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Q&A about MIRRA and Family Connect
By Peter Williams, on 28 March 2022
As you may know, MIRRA has worked extensively with the organisation Family Action, and in particular on the associated Family Connect website. Read a Q&A session between Pete Williams and Julia Feast about the development of the site and MIRRA’s involvement. This is on Georgina Brewis’ (UCL Institute of Education) Charity and Voluntary Sector Archive Case Studies, part of a research project promoting the preservation and use of the archives and records of charities, voluntary and community organisations. Link to Family Connect Q&A session
Good practice in record-keeping in children’s social care
By Elizabeth J Lomas, on 11 March 2022
A blog post by Elizabeth Shepherd, ‘Good practice in record-keeping in children’s social care’ based on the MIRRA research has been published by Research in Practice, https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/news-views/2022/february/good-practice-in-record-keeping-in-children-s-social-care/ Research in Practice has also published Good practice in recording and access to records: Strategic Briefing (2022) as well as the podcasts made last year with John-george and Darren https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/content-pages/podcasts/reflections-on-accessing-care-records-and-supporting-good-recording/ .
MIRRA+ App specification
By Peter Williams, on 3 November 2021
One of the outputs to the latest round of MIRRA has been the specification for an ‘app’ that facilitates more participatory recordkeeping by providing a platform for young people in care to contribute to their own care record. The full reference (and link) to the specification, which is on Open Access on a Creative Commons licence, is:
Shepherd, Elizabeth, Sexton, Anna, Lomas, Elizabeth, Williams, Peter, Denton, Mark, & Marchant, Tanya. (2021). MIRRA app SRS: Memory – Identity – Rights in Records – Access Research Project: a participatory recordkeeping application Software Requirements Specification (SRS). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5599430
MIRRA+ Symposium links
By Peter Williams, on 29 October 2021
We are pleased to say that we have now put the videos and PowerPoints of our Symposium (see the last entry) online. This phase of the project has now ended, but we are actively seeking funding to continue the work in one form or another in the new year – so keep watching this space (and our Twitter account: @mirraproject)!
This is the link to the video playlist (on YouTube)
The playlist name is 2021 Symposium MIRRA Research Project
The links to the presentations appear below
Link to: Report on the MIRRA+ project (UCL team)
Link to: Report on the app specification developed in the project (OLM team)
Link to: Family Action / Family Connect (Julia Feast, Independent Consultant)
Link to: Find & Connect (Kirsten Wright, The University of Melbourne)
Link to: Me and My World: Writing with ‘the child on your shoulder’ (Rebecca Watts, Brighton CC)
Link to: Historical recording practices and their impact (Imogen Watts, Gloucestershire CC)
Symposium news
By Peter Williams, on 14 September 2021
We felt the symposium (see previous entry) went really well, so thanks to all involved – speakers, chairs, delegates and others who gave invaluable help behind the scenes. Videos and PDFs of presentations to come. Meanwhile, here are some links speakers asked us to circulate:
Joanne Evans (Monash University) : An Australian developments that you might be interested in – CaringLife – https://about.caringlife.com/ – developed by foster carers.
Gavin Moorghen (British Association of Social Workers): https://www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/basw_recording_in_childrens_social_work_aug_2020.pdf
Leonie Jordan (Access to Care Records Campaign Group): A new edition of the Practice Guide on Access to Care Records which covers issues of DPA 2018 and GDPR and case examples published by CBaaf is due out in October so check the CoramBaaf website (https://corambaaf.org.uk/) for further details
Miriam Smith (Aberdeen CC): FutureGov https://www.citf.tech/event/webinar/1535-case-study-tech-for-good-2
Watch this space for more on the symposium!
Invitation to the MIRRA Symposium
By Peter Williams, on 29 July 2021
8 and 9 September 09:00—13:00
Followers of MIRRA will know that we are developing the specification for a participatory recordkeeping system in partnership with the software development company OLM Systems (https://www.olmsystems.com/). We now invite you to a free two-day symposium examining issues around social care record creation and access, with MIRRA as the main focus. Day one centres on the creation of participatory records (language, system design etc.), including work undertaken by the MIRRA project. Day two looks at facilitating access to care records for care leavers, and includes presentations from both the UK and Australia.
You can register (for either or both days) at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mirra-virtual-conference-08092021-and-09092021-tickets-162305075851
Accessing care records podcast
By Peter Williams, on 13 April 2021
Miriam Antcliffe, Research in Practice Research and Development Officer, speaks to John-george and Darren who share their personal stories of accessing their care files as adults.
Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/content-pages/podcasts/reflections-on-accessing-care-records-and-supporting-good-recording/
As a very sad PS, one of the contributers to the Podcast, Darren Coyne, died on 25th May after a short illness. He made a very considerable contribution to the project, and was always so enthusisastic and supportive – reflecting his amazing life which he helped so many people in so many ways. More is to follow on Darren ….
“Care leavers’ rights to records” seminar report now available
By Peter Williams, on 22 February 2021
As mentioned in a previous blog post (at that time as a forthcoming event) UCL hosted a virtual seminar as part of an ‘Up Close & Policy’ series: Care leavers’ rights to records – a central theme of the MIRRA project – in October. Dr Elizabeth Lomas (Department of Information Studies, UCL), Darren Coyne (The Care Leavers’ Association), Luke Geoghegan (British Association of Social Workers) and Matthew Brazier (Ofsted), discussed how their work with care leavers (i.e. any adult who spent time in care, such as foster care, residential care, or other arrangements outside the immediate or extended family, as a child) and their rights to their personal records has led to change in policy in the area of children’s social care policy.
The report to this seminar is now available, which brings together the key points made during the discussion by each of the speakers, as well as the audience Q&A:
MIRRA+ workshops
By Peter Williams, on 7 January 2021
A happy and (especially, considering last year!) healthy New Year from the MIRRA+ team! Just to say, in this update that, along with our OLM partners, we ran two workshops just before Christmas in which we discussed the participatory record-keeping principles developed in Phase One of the research. These were to tease out the implications for the design specification for a new participatory system. The principles were initially cut down by the research team to the 20 most likely to be of relevance in creating the specification for such a system, and participants were asked to choose individually and then discuss what they considered to be the four most important in this context. The first workshop was with our ‘co-researcher’ group of care-experienced people (the ‘receivers’ of care records) and the other with the information providers or ‘deliverers’.
Both workshops showed how passionate everyone was to promote positive change. For the Care Experienced individuals, redaction was one important issuer. They felt that their files were over redacted, leading to serious gaps in their journey in care. Feelings of distress were reported, and some felt they were being misled. Participants also said the preservation of memories should include material items – the smell of letters and hand-written notes in old books were said to bring back more memories than digital copies.
For the Deliverers, much of the focus was on the quality and preparation of content. In terms of the latter, concerns were expressed about gaps in the care experienced person’s life, the language used and the lack of creative record keeping such as photographs, awards, and letters. They felt participatory record keeping would help in allowing the young people and important individuals in their lives to contribute and build a story. However, this would need to be delivered in an age appropriate and sensitive way.
From both of the workshops, four main principles were agreed as potentially having the most positive impact:
- Inclusion of sentimental items
- Minimising redaction
- Participatory record keeping
- Creative record keeping
OLM Systems will now conduct further internal workshops to analyse the results, brainstorm solutions, and create interactive designs. Watch this space!
Inquiries into Childcare
By Elizabeth J Lomas, on 7 November 2020
Across many countries, religious houses have been part of the patchwork of national childcare provision. The reality of this care is that it has been both positive and negative and religious organisations should own to the strengths and failures of the systems they have built. This includes taking responsibility across Ireland for the Magdalen Laundries. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, right up until the 1990s, the Magdalen Laundries took in expectant mothers (so called ‘fallen women’) with the outward goal of caring for these women and the children born to them. However, the reality of the experiences of many of these women and the babies born to them has cast a shadow on the care provision across the island of Ireland. The conditions for many women within the Laundries was little short of slavery. Furthermore, tragically many mothers and children died. In regard to the surviving children, they were often taken away through forced adoptions and sent overseas, with records being withheld to limit any chance of the child and their mother reuniting. Recently, it has further emerged that the children were exploited, for example for through their use in vaccine trials. Separately in Ireland, a Mother and Babies home Inquiry was launched to investigate specific abuses. However, whilst this has acknowledged failings, nevertheless this Inquiry itself has been mired in controversy. Initially the Department of Children, announced that its entire copy of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission archive would be archived and sealed from access for 30 years. Last week, under pressure, this decision was reversed. We have yet to fully understand what will be released and what may be withheld and/or redacted.
In Ireland and across the world, systematic failings have called into doubt many lauded institutions. Despite the institutions knowledge of their own failings, there has still not been full disclosure and accountability for past practices. This raises the questions, why do current administrations seek to cover the horrors of the past? This only further damages the reputation of Government and institutions and their relationship with citizens today. In addition, why does it need an Inquiry to force changes the need for which is often recognised long before the full findings of an inquiry are released? As part of this restoration of justice, we know that around the globe, care leavers are still denied access to the full set of records that can help them make sense of their childhoods. This is in spite of the case law decisions that have highlighted their rights to access these records. Whilst not all crimes of the past can be remedied, some very simple steps to provide accountability and information access can assist in restoring trust today and providing care leavers and current children in care with the rightful information that helps them make sense of their pasts.
In Ireland, the case for change is being made from the grassroots up. In addition, last week the Republic of Ireland wound up a consultation on the new strategy for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth aiming to better resource and mange critical agendas. The MIRRA Research Group submitted a response arguing for accountability and better recordkeeping for children in care. The submission relates to the need to properly recognise the recordkeeping responsibilities regarding children in care and the need to support access to their records throughout their lives. MIRRA has found that records are the only means for many care leavers to make sense of their childhoods, given the disconnect with family. The provision of well-crafted records can be life-changing to a person’s long-term wellbeing into adulthood. In addition, when there are investigations, such as the Magdalen Inquiry, these are often hampered, contested and called into doubt when recordkeeping systems are poor. The need for records in the Magdalen Laundries investigation, which has shown that the omission of records and poor management has had serious consequences, has impacted citizen trust in childcare processes. Holistic systems with some independence are key. The MIRRA submission can be read at https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/mirra/files/2020/11/MIRRA_DCYAStrategyStatement_6Nov2020.pdf.
In the UK we are still awaiting the findings of the IICSA inquiry. MIRRA also provided a policy briefing to IICSA which can be read at https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/mirra/files/2020/11/IICSABriefingPaper_MIRRA_UCL_August2019-1.pdf. We hope that the report from IICSA will acknowledge the failures of the past and make strong recommendations to address and remedy these failings into the future. Part of this adenda needs to include a recordkeeping provision.
We are all on a journey. However, we know many of the solutions that are needed to provide for better lives and outcomes for the children in care today. Let us hope that the authorities of today, own to the failings of their predecessors, and improve the outcomes of children in the future. Recordkeeping is a key part of this agenda. Records made with children, centering their voices, can help build better trusted systems that enable organisations to be accountable to future generations.
Let us hope these inquiries do make concrete changes for the future.
