New research about children with Special Guardianship Orders

Are you a Special Guardian of a child aged 4 to 7? Would you like to take part in research about the experiences of families with Special Guardianship Orders? We are inviting children aged 4 to 7 and their Special Guardians to the Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit (NDAU) at Cardiff University.

When a child cannot live with their parents, some have a legal order called a Special Guardianship Order (SGO). This recognises that this child is living long term with an alternative carer, and this carer has parental responsibility for the child. This carer might be a family member of a child, someone else who was known to the child before the arrangement – like a friend or neighbour – or someone who was their foster carer but decided that they could care for the child more permanently.

Children who have an SGO may have similar prior life experiences to children who are looked after. Children that have experienced out of home care are more likely to have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. This can impact on what school looks like for them, and how they are able to engage. Special Guardianship aims to give children more stability which should help them to thrive, but schools have a vital role to play too by understanding what these children might need.

A team at Cardiff University are trying to answer some of these questions by inviting children and their special guardians to the university to take part in research. In the Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit children will take part in activities to test their cognitive, developmental and emotional functioning skills. An educational psychologist will translate these results into a report for the child’s teacher with suggested interventions to work with the child.

To be eligible for the study, a child needs to be 4 – 7, and have a special guardianship order. They do not need to have any prior difficulties or diagnoses. We are taking referrals from teachers from now until April 2025. To make a referral, please email SGO@Cardiff.ac.uk and you will be given all of the information that you need.

Please help us to improve the learning and school experience of this vulnerable group of children. You can learn more at CASCADE  Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre.