Lived Experience Research
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On this page you will find details of opportunities specifically for care leavers, including involvement in studies and research projects.
Please note that these opportunities are independent of the Rees Foundation, and we do not check or verify the organisations or projects listed. If you choose to participate, you will find contact details provided below each opportunity — please get in touch with the organisers directly to help ensure a smooth process for getting involved. We encourage you to consider each opportunity carefully and make sure it feels right for you. |
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Parenting without a Blueprint: Fatherhood and Care Experience
There’s very little research that explores what it’s like to become a dad after growing up in care. This project aims to change that by listening directly to care-experienced men who are now fathers or expectant fathers.
The goal is to understand their journeys into fatherhood — the challenges, strengths, and support systems that shape their experiences — and to highlight what’s needed to offer better support to care-experienced dads.
Participation involves a one-hour online interview with Sarah, where you’ll be invited to share your story in a way that feels right for you.
Participation Criteria:
Name: Sarah Holman
Email: [email protected]
The goal is to understand their journeys into fatherhood — the challenges, strengths, and support systems that shape their experiences — and to highlight what’s needed to offer better support to care-experienced dads.
Participation involves a one-hour online interview with Sarah, where you’ll be invited to share your story in a way that feels right for you.
Participation Criteria:
- Aged 18+
- Care experienced
- A father or expectant father
Name: Sarah Holman
Email: [email protected]
Everyday parenting with care experience
This study explores the perspectives of parents bound by the common thread of a care background but who are otherwise "ordinary" parents.
We are keen to collect the voices of those who go on to successfully parent but are usually missing from the statistics that are used to describe care leaver "outcomes".
Our project seeks to broaden the debate around outcomes for people with care experience by exploring the perspectives of parents who go on to live "ordinary" lives. This exploration is vital in the contemporary context, where evidence of positive outcomes for care-experienced people is heavily underreported. By doing this, we intend to contest the "poor outcomes" messaging which stigmatises children currently in care and young people leaving care.
Findings from this project will contribute to and diversify the evidence base around what it means to be a parent who is care experienced. Research findings will be shared widely with policy-makers, practitioners and the wider public to platform the voices of care leavers and to advocate for a wider understanding of both the triumphs and the challenges experienced by parents with a care background.
Participation criteria:
Take part here.
Name: Dr Katie Ellis
Email: [email protected]
We are keen to collect the voices of those who go on to successfully parent but are usually missing from the statistics that are used to describe care leaver "outcomes".
Our project seeks to broaden the debate around outcomes for people with care experience by exploring the perspectives of parents who go on to live "ordinary" lives. This exploration is vital in the contemporary context, where evidence of positive outcomes for care-experienced people is heavily underreported. By doing this, we intend to contest the "poor outcomes" messaging which stigmatises children currently in care and young people leaving care.
Findings from this project will contribute to and diversify the evidence base around what it means to be a parent who is care experienced. Research findings will be shared widely with policy-makers, practitioners and the wider public to platform the voices of care leavers and to advocate for a wider understanding of both the triumphs and the challenges experienced by parents with a care background.
Participation criteria:
- All UK parents with a care background
Take part here.
Name: Dr Katie Ellis
Email: [email protected]
Open University Scholarships for Care-Experienced People
The Open University, in partnership with the John Lewis Partnership, is offering scholarships for people who have experience of the care system.
If you're aged under 30 and have been in care, you could be eligible for this opportunity to study for free and gain a recognised qualification with a flexible, supportive university.
Who can apply?
Find out more or apply here.
If you're aged under 30 and have been in care, you could be eligible for this opportunity to study for free and gain a recognised qualification with a flexible, supportive university.
Who can apply?
- Aged under 30
- Have experience of being in care
Find out more or apply here.
The Care Experience Questionnaire
Help shape understanding of how time in care affects adult mental health.
This study is part of a wider research project exploring the role children’s social care plays in shaping later-life mental health. The questionnaire has been developed using insight from adults who spent time in care and aims to better understand how those experiences affect wellbeing.
Your voice can help researchers develop better strategies to reduce harm, improve care, and promote mental wellbeing for care experienced people.
Participation Criteria:
Find out more and take part here.
Name: Sally Peplow
Email: [email protected]
This study is part of a wider research project exploring the role children’s social care plays in shaping later-life mental health. The questionnaire has been developed using insight from adults who spent time in care and aims to better understand how those experiences affect wellbeing.
Your voice can help researchers develop better strategies to reduce harm, improve care, and promote mental wellbeing for care experienced people.
Participation Criteria:
- Aged 18 or over
- Spent at least one year in UK state care after 1989 (e.g. foster care, residential care, kinship care)
- Speak fluent English
- Are not currently experiencing an acute psychiatric condition
Find out more and take part here.
Name: Sally Peplow
Email: [email protected]
Engagement and Awareness of Support Services Among CEP in Wales
This research project aims to explore the awareness, understanding, and engagement with Occupational Therapy (OT) services among care experienced individuals aged 18-45 currently or previously living in Wales.
The goal is to identify patterns, barriers, and potential gaps in knowledge or access that may inform future service development and improve accessibility and relevance of OT services for this population.
Participation Criteria:
Take part here.
Name: John Fury
Email: [email protected]
The goal is to identify patterns, barriers, and potential gaps in knowledge or access that may inform future service development and improve accessibility and relevance of OT services for this population.
Participation Criteria:
- Aged 16 to 24
- Have experience of being in care
- Have experienced at least 2 placement changes in the UK care system
Take part here.
Name: John Fury
Email: [email protected]
Looking for collaborators in Midlands: participatory research project with children and young people
This project aims to explore how experiences of the care system shape children and young people’s identities.
The researcher is looking to connect with local organisations in the Midlands (particularly around Birmingham and Leicester) that work with care experienced children and young people aged 10 to 25.
The project aims to work collaboratively with organisations to meet and get to know the children and young people they support, identify young people who may want to take part in the research, participate in and observe sessions run by the organisation, and carry out interviews or group discussions with young people
Participation Criteria:
Email: [email protected]
The project is scheduled to begin in September 2025 and run through to June 2026
The researcher is looking to connect with local organisations in the Midlands (particularly around Birmingham and Leicester) that work with care experienced children and young people aged 10 to 25.
The project aims to work collaboratively with organisations to meet and get to know the children and young people they support, identify young people who may want to take part in the research, participate in and observe sessions run by the organisation, and carry out interviews or group discussions with young people
Participation Criteria:
- Aged 10-25
- Experience of being in care
Email: [email protected]
The project is scheduled to begin in September 2025 and run through to June 2026
care leavers perceptions and experiences of contact with birth parents whilst in foster care
While the experiences of contact between foster children and their birth parents are well researched from social workers, foster parents and birth parents' perspectives, the voices of care leavers and their perspectives and experiences are not currently explored by current research.
This study aims to hear from those with first-hand care experience about their experiences of contact with their birth parents while in foster care.
You will be invited to take part in an interview lasting approx. 1 hour. The interview will take place either on Microsoft Teams or in person at the University of Staffordshire.
Participants will receive a £25 voucher after the interview as a thank you.
Participation criteria:
Name: Shannon Burrows
Email: [email protected]
This study aims to hear from those with first-hand care experience about their experiences of contact with their birth parents while in foster care.
You will be invited to take part in an interview lasting approx. 1 hour. The interview will take place either on Microsoft Teams or in person at the University of Staffordshire.
Participants will receive a £25 voucher after the interview as a thank you.
Participation criteria:
- Aged 18-30
- Entered non-kinship foster care between the ages of 7 and 11
- Have been in foster care for a minimum of 2 years and were not placed with prospective adopters or adopted within this time
Name: Shannon Burrows
Email: [email protected]
