OnDemand: Children in Care Conference 2026

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You can watch all the insights, key sessions, and expert discussions from The Children in Care Conference 2026 by purchasing our OnDemand Event. Access full recordings of every session, including presentations from leading industry speakers, and watch at your own pace.

Benefits of OnDemand:

• Watch on your own schedule – no need to clear your calendar or worry about time zones
• Learn at your own pace – pause, rewind, and rewatch key moments to fully absorb the content
• Get instant access after purchase to expert insights and curated content, perfect for industry professionals who want high-value content OnDemand

Access this conference OnDemand today for £245 here.

2026 Overview

For the 2024/25 period, England saw around 83,600 children in care, entering at around 31,000, and experiencing persistent challenges with foster capacity, placement instability, and out-of-area placements. Systemic pressures remain rooted in child poverty, workforce shortages, and insufficient early support services. Overstretched children’s social care services, in the face of rising need, has led to an alarming number of children leaving the care system and becoming homeless, not in employment or not in education.

In February 2026 The Children in Care Conference explored the latest approaches to supporting children in care. Hear keynotes from national experts and learn from best practice case studies including:

2026 Agenda

• 09.50am

  Chair’s Opening Remarks

  Dr Mariela Neagu, Research Fellow Faculty of Health and Education Institute for Children’s Futures, Manchester Metropolitan University

  

• 10.00am

  Keynote: Delivering Trauma-Informed Services to Meet the Needs of the Most Vulnerable Children

  • Creating a trauma-aware service: providing service-wide training on how trauma can impact care experienced children
  • Engaging children and care leavers with lived experience to review and make changes based on service user feedback
  • Developing a debrief process to support carers and review cases to identify potential service improvements

  Cllr. Catherine Faulks, Lead Member for Family & Children’s Services, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

  

• 10.20am

  Case Study: Stronger Futures through Apprenticeship

  • Exploring the lived experiences of care-experienced individuals undertaking apprenticeships at Action for Children, using real stories and reflections
  • Examining the opportunities apprenticeships create, alongside the systemic and practical barriers care-experienced young people face when entering employment
  • Highlighting the tailored support, relationships and structures that make a meaningful difference to progression and retention
  • Identifying how apprenticeships can enable positive transitions from care into sustainable employment, and what organisations and practitioners can do to better support this journey

  Caryl Dyer, Service Coordinator, Action for Children

  Amelia Nicholson, Fundraising Development Manager, Action for Children

  Hannah Lunn, Project Manager, Brightsparks CIC 

  Katie Simpson, Director of Research, Learning & Development, Brightsparks CIC 

  

• 10.40am

  Keynote: From Frontline to System Leadership: Lessons on Improving Outcomes for Children in Care

  • How working with children across youth work, education, foster care, and residential settings has shaped my approach to care
  • What genuinely improves outcomes for children in care, based on lived experience and long-term practice
  • Common system barriers that get in the way of good care — and practical ways leaders and practitioners can respond differently
  • How strong culture, accountability, and everyday decisions keep children at the centre

  Trevor Elliot MBE, Children’s Social Care

• 11.00am

  Questions and Answers

• 11.20am

  Comfort Break

• 11.35am

  Case Study: Applying the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) Model in Residential Care: Insights and Reflections

  Dr Nikki Hill Director / Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Aspire Psychological Services 

  Dr Sam Crawford, Psychological Therapies Lead & Senior Clinical Psychologist, Aspire Psychological Services

  

• 11.55am

  Case Study: Preparing and Supporting Care Leavers Throughout Their Transition Out of The Care System

  • Developing a structured leaving plan with care leavers to personalise their transition out of care according to individual needs
  • Care leaving coaches: ensuring the voice and experience of children in care is foregrounded in future planning
  • Liaising with schools and local employers to develop persistent opportunities for care leavers
  • Ensuring care leavers are connected with participation and welfare benefits officers to access available support and services

  Toya Dunscombe, Care Leavers Connected Project Worker, The Care Leavers Association 

  

• 12.15pm

  Questions and Answers

• 12.35pm

  Lunch Break

• 1.15pm

  Keynote: Preventing the Exploitation and Criminalisation of Vulnerable Looked-After Children

  • Exploring the factors that make care-experienced children more vulnerable to criminal exploitation
  • Guidance on developing behavioural improvement plans in conjunction with looked-after children and local external partners to prevent reoffending
  • Upskilling carers to identify the signs of exploitation and make timely interventions before escalation
  • Strategies for supporting children in care at risk of alcohol and drug misuse

  Chloe Panayi, Deputy Manager, Willoughby Place

  

• 1.35pm

  Keynote: Teachers who Care: How Schools can Support Young People’s Transition Out of Care

  • Moved During Exams report, outlining frequency and impact of moves during exam periods
  • Share Teachers Who Care film, co-produced with care experienced young people
  • Outline challenges care experienced young people face in school and the crucial role teachers and school staff can play
  • Become resources and further training for Teachers and educators
  • How Become’s Propel service supports young people to overcome impact of often disrupted education to achieve their education ad employment goals
  • Opportunities to work together

  Chloe Grant, Director of Services, Become Charity 

  

• 1.55pm

  Questions and Answers

• 2.45pm

  Comfort Break

• 3.00pm

  Key Supporter Session: Adolescent Mental Health in Care: Understanding Emotional Wellbeing

  • Reflective overview of the emotional wellbeing of children and young people in care, with a focus on adolescence and mental health.
  • Exploration of how early adversity, loss and instability influence emotional responses, behaviour and relationships, and how distress can be misunderstood without a trauma-informed perspective.
  • Coverage of common emotional experiences such as anxiety, low mood and difficulties with emotional regulation, alongside the role of safety, consistency and supportive relationships.
  • Emphasis on recognising and responding to emotional distress in children and young people in care with empathy, curiosity and compassion, within the context of Children’s Mental Health Week.

  Jessica Parker, Consultant and Mental Health Professional, Flourish

  

• 3.20pm

  Case Study: Supporting Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum

  • Providing immediate accommodation, food and psychological support
  • Conducting a compliant age assessment for asylum seekers and ensuring an appropriate adult and interpreter are present during interviews
  • Coordinating with other local authorities to initiate a voluntary transfer of responsibility due to resource constraints in the receiving area
  • Continuing support beyond the child’s 18th birthday to support ongoing care needs

  Brenda Farrell, UK Director Fostering, Adoption and Children in Care, Barnardo’s 

  

• 3.40pm

  Questions and Answers

• 4.00pm

  Chair’s Closing Remarks

  Dr Mariela Neagu, Research Fellow Faculty of Health and Education Institute for Children’s Futures, Manchester Metropolitan University

  

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