Impact Report
2023/24
155,490 CHILDREN AND CARERS HELPED DIRECTLY
‘
THE TRUE CHARACTER
OF A SOCIETY IS REVEALED IN HOW IT TREATS ITS CHILDREN.’
– Nelson Mandela
Better chances for children, now and forever
After decades of progress, on a range of metrics life is no longer getting better for the next generation. Amidst a cost of living crisis, we have seen a rise in child poverty, there is huge unmet demand for mental health support and the number of children entering care is at an all-time high. It is clear that the future of children and young people need to be given a higher priority in our national life.
Over the last 12 months, Coram has worked with hundreds of thousands of children and young people nationwide to make their lives better – more than ever before. Whether through legal support and advocacy, our life skills, drama and reading programmes in schools, our creative therapy and adoption services, or through training and knowledge-sharing with sector professionals, we create change that lasts a lifetime.
The transfer into the Coram Group of educational exclusion and homelessness work from Just for Kids Law has significantly strengthened our support for young people in crisis, whilst more schools are accessing educational resources to prepare children with the skills they need in an uncertain world.
We have championed the issues of access to early education and childcare and welcomed the consultancy and training organisation Hempsall’s into the Group to build greater capacity whilst the other new joiner Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre was recently assessed as Outstanding by Ofsted.
As we continue to deliver services every day to help children, we are increasingly focussed on getting their voices heard to effect change at a national level. To this end, we have launched the Charter for Children, setting out a fully costed route map towards intergenerational fairness and a just settlement for children and young people.
It is to fulfil this vision for the next generation that we are now building the Coram Institute for Children, the country’s first ‘think and do’ centre, translating our experience of delivery and our growing body of research into impact and shaping the debate on what the future should look like for children and young people.
All of this is made possible by our generous supporters and partners across national and local government, private sector, staff and volunteers who share our commitment to building a better future for the next generation.
We are honoured that Her Majesty The Queen has become Patron to Coram, building on the long association of the Royal Family since the granting of the Royal Charter in 1739.
Now, as then, we shall not rest until all children have the best possible chance in life.
Dr Carol Homden, Chief Executive Officer
Sir David Bell, President and Chairman
3,011,014 DIGITAL REACH 598,795 CHILDREN REACHED THROUGH SCHOOLS
Her Majesty Queen Camilla has become Patron to Coram, building on the long association of the Royal Family with the organisation since the granting of the Royal Charter in 1739.
A fair chance in life
‘Client feedback is consistently of a high level, all indicating the commitment to client care shown by the team’
LEXCEL 2024
Coram Children’s Legal Centre is the country’s leading provider of specialist legal support for children and young people. For over 40 years, our expert legal team has advised, supported and acted for thousands of children and young people to ensure they can obtain justice and realise their rights.
Legal support for those who need it
Every year UK courts hear thousands of cases involving children, whether private family law disputes, immigration hearings, criminal cases, or through parents and carers fighting for the rights of those of children with special education needs or disabilities.
Our Child Law Advice Service offers legal advice on child, family and education law for parents, carers and young people. CLAS advised 16,100 people directly over the last 12 months, and over 1.5 million users accessed our online resources.
Volunteer law students contributed to the helpline, gaining skills for their future careers and ensuring that more children and families could gain legally assured advice. They are amongst the 727 young people engaging with Coram to help 6,873 others.
Supporting young refugees and migrants
Young people in the UK who have experienced forced migration and may face risks of exploitation need support to resolve their status and take their place as young citizens. Coram’s specialist legal advice team works with youth groups, homelessness outreach professionals and local authorities to ensure that they get access to independent legal help and can use their experience to get young voices heard in decisions that matter for their future. Our pro bono partnership projects brought 71 successful cases, with one further case being appealed.
Following CCLC intervention, the Home Office has confirmed that children and young people who were brought to the UK in 2016 and 2017 as part of the Calais camp clearance will now have a shorter wait before getting permanent status (known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement), and no fee to pay.
Rwanda Act
We worked with our partners in the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium throughout the passage of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill to oppose the legislation, as we deplore its erosion of the UK’s commitment to its international legal obligations. The team produced an update on the implications for unaccompanied children and young people Act, also covering potential consequences of the Illegal Migration Act. Young people in the system are living with considerable uncertainty, and we will continue to support and advocate for this highly vulnerable group.
Anne, advice line volunteer
Anne is a qualified paralegal volunteering with the Child Law Advice Service (CLAS) applying her learning to help people in a practical way and gaining greater experience for her career.
“A typical day for me involves responding to a wide range of queries across family law, particularly in the areas of family breakdown, child arrangements and domestic abuse.
Having worked with the team for some time now, I am even more convinced of the value of the service that CLAS provides. For so many children and young people, relying on the legal system is their only option. It is a daunting prospect, which is not just financially out of reach but can also feel impossible to access and make sense of.”
‘I think most practitioners in family law would benefit from spending some time volunteering or working here.’
1,500,000
Outstanding recognition
Coram’s Legal Practice was congratulated by LEXCEL for 30 points of excellence in the quality of legal work, and achieved an unprecedented level of recognition in national awards.
Qaisar Sheikh, CCLC head of education law, was one of the winners of the Law Society’s Legal Hero Awards, recognising those solicitors making the biggest difference to the lives of others described as “a consistent fighter for the most vulnerable in society” whilst Gregg Burrough, senior education solicitor, was awarded an honorary fellowship by Queen Mary University.
Community care solicitor Whitney Hard, was a finalist in the ‘Children’s Rights’ category at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) awards and Sheree Clark, operations and finance manager was a finalist in the ‘Legal Aid Support Staffer’ category.
Coram’s Young Citizens share their experience of the immigration system to support others and inform policies
School exclusion support
This year saw growth of our legal practice work across school exclusion, care and housing as well as family and immigration issues.
The school exclusions hub, which transferred to Coram from Just for Kids Law, contains an enhanced range of resources for families and professionals impacted by school exclusion.
In addition, with the support of our partner Allen and Overy we have extended the pro bono legal clinic to increase access to legal representation.
In May, CCLC’s legal team brought a landmark case to the High Court challenging the current lack of legal aid for school exclusion appeals, just one of the strategic litigation cases brought to establish legal precedent.
We particularly thank Mission 44, The Access to Justice Foundation, ajaz.org, BBC Children in Need and Paul Hamlyn Foundation for their support.
Young people can also access wider information on their rights and answers to their questions on ‘at what age can I ...?’ at the dedicated lawstuff.org.uk website.
Securing children’s rights
This year, CCLC acted for a vulnerable child whose local authority was refusing to assist with move on plan accommodation, and a potential breach of ECHR rights was argued in the challenge. This is of wider public interest given the problems faced by many child victims of trafficking, where lack of effective support exposes them to risk of further exploitation. On the morning of the final hearing the local authority conceded its position, agreeing to the relief sought and paying damages and costs.
A loving home
Coram works to ensure that children can access the loving home and therapeutic support they need whether through adoption, fostering or kinship placements. In addition to being the only voluntary adoption agency to deliver a regional adoption agency service for nine local authorities, Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre joined the group and continue to champion best practice in international adoption into the UK under the Hague Convention.
Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre
Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre (Coram IAC) is the UK’s only dedicated international adoption agency, preparing, assessing and supporting prospective adopters to adopt a child into the UK where the relevant government has agreed that to be in their best interest.
This year 1,565 enquiries were supported from UK based families with 43 children placed. The agency was again found Outstanding by Ofsted which noted that the agency’s adoption support service is “a beacon of good practice”. Its exceptional expertise in cross-cultural practice was shared through work with local authorities across the country and a specialist conference addressing an intersectional approach to meeting the needs of neurodiverse adopted, looked after and kinship care children from the global majority.
In April 2024, Coram IAC hosted the 15th EurAdopt conference of international agencies, the first time the event has been held in the UK. The vibrant programme explored intergenerational experiences of adoption with the experience of adopters and adopted young people at the heart of the research and best practice presentations.
Coram Ambitious for Adoption
This year 38 children were placed with Coram families, with 37% coming from diverse backgrounds and 26% being placed through early permanence where the dually approved adopters initially provide fostering until the court has made a decision for adoption.
This was demonstrated as a leading exemplar through the study of Early Permanence in London commissioned by Adoption England identifying that greater awareness among professionals and the engagement of senior members of the judiciary are key to ensuring that children get the earliest possible stability.
With the support of Adoption England, the Coram Regional Adoption Agency also pioneered an intensive family finding support service for children who wait the longest by combining professional support for the children’s online profiles with attendance by the children and prospective adopters at matching activity days, and where needed with therapeutic support.
Managing Director of Coram Intercountry Adoption Centre, Irene Levine, and adopter Jan Way MBE hosted the EurAdopt conference, the first to be held in the UK
Presented by Aled Jones, BBC’s Songs of Praise featured the story of Thomas Coram’s creation of the charity and our continuing work in a feature for National Adoption Week
Sabrina Simpson, who led the case to the High Court
‘The agency is leading early permanence and adoption work in all its aspects.’ Ofsted, 2021
Anne’s story
Black African and Caribbean heritage children often wait longer for an adoptive family. Coram’s outreach work aims to encourage more African and Caribbean families to come forward to adopt, so that more children can be adopted into families who can share and understand their cultural heritage and identity.
Anne is a single woman of black Caribbean descent who adopted a little girl Rachel, and later Rachel’s sister Emily, through Coram.
As a former primary school teacher, Anne’s background and experience had reinforced her desire to adopt, as she recalls:
“I remember just always having a heart for those children who kind of didn’t fit into the mainstream in different ways. Being around children who were maybe looked-after, or they were known to social care, it really made me think this was something I wanted to do. And adopting children who are birth siblings I think is really important for their life story and having that connection.”
National matching support
Adoption Activity Days enable approved adopters from any agency who are not yet matched to meet with children from any part of the country who are waiting for the loving home they need through an informal play day.
This year we brought together 267 children and 197 prospective adoptive families at ten adoption activity days (AADs) held across the country. To date there have been more than 44 matches for children attending events over the past year, continuing the high level of success.
In addition, our Be My Family team hosted seven national exchange days, where adoption agencies can profile their children and adopters. This enabled some 170 families to find out more about over 1,000 children waiting and make links that would not otherwise have been possible providing vital support to social workers across the country.
Frankie’s story
Frankie cared for baby Sophie from three months old through Coram’s early permanence scheme, going on to adopt her. Frankie and Sophie have ongoing direct contact with Sophie’s older sister Olivia and her grandmother who looks after Olivia as her special guardian.
Frankie remembers meeting Sophie’s grandmother in person for the first time: “It was a very special and emotional day. When she spotted Sophie, Olivia ran over to her squealing, examining her as if to check she was real. Sophie’s grandmother and I were both in tears.”
“Coram and the local authority social workers have been brilliant at helping us think things through”, says Frankie and the contact has been hugely beneficial for all involved including Sophie: “It’s so nice for her to have a link with her sister – they’ll have that shared experience in life that they’ll be able to talk about later on.
“It means that Sophie can have a good relationship with her grandparents and ask questions as she grows up... We feel so lucky – more people to love Sophie can only be a good thing.”
‘It has been lovely to watch the girls’ bond grow. Sophie’s grandparents were among the first people I told when she took her first steps and said her first word.’
Frankie
‘Honestly I wouldn’t change anything. I’m blessed.’
Creative Therapies
Coram’s Centre for Creative Therapy and Parenting this year supported 275 children, young people, and their families across a variety of approaches one to one, in small groups and in schools. Schools have reported that work with Coram’s therapists has given children a safe space to speak about concerns that they may not have opened up about previously and an opportunity to access a service that would otherwise have been difficult to secure within current funding structures.
Lifetime of difference
This forms just one part of Coram’s ongoing adoption support service recognised as outstanding and which supported hundreds of adopters and children through a wide range of therapeutic parenting groups, life story work and records access. Our thanks to all riders of Club Peloton (seen below) helping to ensure Coram can make a lifetime of difference for children.
Sibling Time
All too many children who are adopted or in alternative placements are separated from siblings. It is to respond to the desire and benefit of children in care to stay in contact where it is safe to do so that Coram, with the support of The Hadley Trust, has pioneered Sibling Time days enabling children to spend time with their brothers and sisters whilst enabling carers and social workers to gain confidence in how such connections can be sustained for the future.
Initial evaluation found that Sibling Time shows signs of significant promise in helping local authorities to support meaningful contact between separated siblings, offering them the opportunity to build strong relationships and emotional connections with huge potential for national application.
In the coming year
We will publish the evaluation of the Step Up matching programme and support enquirers to explore long term fostering as well as adoption to increase the availability of permanence placements for children who need them.
A voice that’s heard
As the birthplace of the care system and pioneer of children’s advocacy, Coram works with and for all care-experienced children and young people and those on the edges of care to ensure they have a voice that heard in decisions that matter to their lives and the services they need.
Winter survival appeal
Coram Voice was one of the supported charities in the Evening Standard’s Christmas campaign with Comic Relief, which highlighted the story of 17-year-old Mina, who was homeless, having been forced to leave her abusive family home. Denied support by her local authority, Mina had to sofa surf at school friends’ homes. “I had no money and no clothes and had to borrow things to wear from my friends whose parents fed me,” she said. As Mina started running out of places to stay, her school raised concerns about her deteriorating mental health and the turning point came when Mina was referred to Coram Voice. Our advocate Scarlett Cowling noted that “Young people do not always know the law or their rights and some local authorities do all they can to avoid taking a child into care at age 17 because if they are ‘looked after’ for at least 13 weeks before they turn 18, it imposes a financial burden on them under Section 20 to support the child even after they leave care at 18, until the age of 25. For 17-yearolds, time is of the essence. I am glad to say we were successful in getting Mina looked after with full support under Section 20”.
‘
Our life-changing advocacy intervention helps children escape abusive homes and take young people off the streets. Getting them the support they need is vital.’
Brigid Robinson MBE, Managing Director of
Coram Voice
Champion for children
Over the last year Coram Voice provided one-to-one support for 3,359 children and young people through our advocacy, Independent Visitor programme and the Always Heard national advocacy helpline.
A further 3,642 were involved in the Bright Spots project, helping local authorities to hear children and young people’s voices to inform service development, and we reached another 686 through our consultation, research and ambassador programmes.
Young people in crisis
In the face of growing homelessness amongst young people and the significant risks they face, Coram Voice has expanded its specialist advocacy team, supporting also those who experience school exclusion and those with disabilities, and helping more than 600 children and young people during the year.
This work has been made possible with the generous support of Comic Relief, City Bridge Foundation as well as the transfer of services from Just for Kids Law, supported by Oak Foundation, Mission 44 and the National Lottery Community Fund.
A further focus has been support to 30 young people with learning disabilities or autism, for example, who are currently ineligible for statutory advocacy services, enabling them to access the social care support, educational opportunity and accommodation they needed.
By demonstrating the impact of advocacy on young people’s lives we are supporting our funders, The Henry Smith Charity, to make the case for expanding advocacy provision for this client group.
In the coming year, we shall further expand our specialist advocacy to tackle school exclusion and publish The Door is Still Closed a report on the impact of youth homelessness.
Publications
Publications over the last year include: a joint study with the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) on care leavers’ experiences of health inequalities; our response to DfE revisions to national standards and guidance for provision of children and young people’s advocacy services; and a survey co-produced with care leavers revealing a steep decline in wellbeing after leaving care. These and all our publications can be found on our website at www.coramvoice.org.uk.
‘
I found having an advocate gave me confidence to speak out and say what I think.’
Amplify
In October, the second Amplify national event took place at Coram during National Care Leavers’ Week, with care-experienced children and young people coming together from across the country to share experiences. They had the opportunity to speak directly to the Minister of State for Children and Families David Johnston MP on what matters most and to celebrate their work.
Care leavers’ entitlements
All those leaving care are entitled to support from their local authority with the costs of setting up their new home but – despite that level being defined by government – still too many care leavers do not receive the grants they are entitled to by law. A Freedom of Information request to all local authorities has built a clear picture of local variation and A National Voice launched their Grand Campaign to ensure all care leavers in England receive the full support to which they are entitled with an end to the postcode lottery.
A National Voice
A National Voice (ANV) is the national children in care council through which young care-experienced ambassadors represent children and young people in care, putting their voices at the heart of policy and practice development to inspire and inform change on the big issues impacting all those in and around care.
House of Lords social care inquiry
In April the young ambassadors participated in a round table for the House of Lords Public Services Committee’s inquiry into the children’s social care implementation strategy, a session that informed the subsequent Lords report into implementation. The report highlighted young people’s comments on issues ranging from suitability of kinship carers, separation from siblings, ability of carers to deal with trauma, and to the importance of personalised care, informed by listening to the child.
In the coming year
We shall examine the potential to extend independent visitor support for care leavers and develop plans for the 50th anniversary of the formation of A Voice for the Child in Care, now Coram Voice.
Voices through time
The Coram Archive tells the story of care from our establishment by Thomas Coram as The Foundling Hospital in 1739 and inspires the continuing journey to create better chances for children now and forever with creative programmes for young people to inform that future.
Virtual access
The digitisation of nearly 100,000 records from the 18th and 19th centuries has been made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. In the VoicesThroughTime:the Story of Care programme, care-experienced young people aged 18-24 explored the past and their voices were heard in films, a theatrical production, and photo essays.
The documentary film, No Place Like Home: TheStoryoftheFoundling Hospital was premiered at the Curzon Cinema as part of the Bloomsbury Festival, hosted by broadcaster and former Coram Governor, Kate Adie.
The billet books record details of children admitted in the 18th century with fabric tokens attached so the children could be identified should their mothers return
‘The storyline of the play touches close to home. Plays aren’t something that we can always relate to as young care-experienced people, but this was really relatable to us… You can find family in anyone and anywhere.’
Keziah (age 19)
In the coming year
The digital archive will be published at coramstory.org.uk on Coram’s Charter Day on 17 October, also marked by the opening of an immersive art installation asking us all
3,764 VOLUNTEERS HAVE HELPED TO TRANSCRIBE 100,000 RECORDS
Live on stage
Care-experienced young people worked with a professional writer and director to devise and perform a powerful new play, Echoes Through Time: The Story of Care which attracted a sell-out audience to Hoxton Hall.
The script, inspired by the archive, was developed for use by youth groups (14+) and features young people
‘suspended in time’, half in the modern world, half in the world of the historic Foundling Hospital. It grapples with eternal themes of separation and stigma, interwoven with the challenges of today’s care system. Many of the performers had never been on stage before and others took on professional roles within the production.
A chance to shine
10,390
YOUNG PEOPLE TOOK TO THE STAGE
Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival is the largest youth drama festival in the world. We put children centre stage to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio with a gala performance of winning entries in the What You Will competition.
The Masked Singer
Coram was chosen as one of the charity partners for the fifth series of ITV’s The Masked Singer. We teamed up with bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph to launch a ‘Reveal Your Character’ competition for children, inviting children to submit a description of what their own character would look like on The Masked Singer, and how it represents their personality or interests. Three winners were selected by the judges to have their characters brought to life in illustration by Rob Biddulph and receive a signed print of their character. Famous faces Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan, joined as competition judges.
One of the winners, Heidi, age 7, said: “The idea for my Chatterbox character came from my love of crafting and junk modelling and also my love of chatting. Rob’s drawing is exactly how I’d imagined but 100% better!”
Creating new futures
With growing pressures on schools leading to concerns that many children from more disadvantaged backgrounds are missing out on participation in the arts, the Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation works to ensure all children get the opportunity to build confidence and to have the chance to perform in a professional theatre.
Over one third of the schools taking part are classed as priority schools – those with high Free School Meal eligibility, SEND settings and schools located in the top deciles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) ensuring that they have an equal chance to shine.
As a result of our 2023-24 Theatre Festival, 100% of teachers surveyed said their students have confidence, and 100% said their students have pride in themselves.
More than 350,000 students have now taken part in the annual festival and we look forward to marking the Silver Jubilee in 2025.
Virtual school first
Virtual schools are responsible for ensuring the educational progress of all young people in care or adopted within their local authority. For the first time, CSSF this year supported a virtual school to take part in our annual theatre festival. The company of care-experienced young people from across Leicestershire came together to stage a production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Magdalen College Oxford, with direction and facilitation from Leicester Curve Theatre. The impact on the participants’ confidence, wellbeing, communication skills and empathy has been incredible, with the young people and their carers reflecting on how the project had helped them to build confidence, overcome anxiety about performing, and bond with each other.
Lead teacher at the Leicester virtual school explained that “The knowledge and talent of the Coram and Magdalen practitioners definitely made this one of the most impactful projects I have ever been involved with as an educator.”
‘Taking part in the Festival has helped me to get better at reading. I felt more confident in the reading test for my SATs and I really like reading non-fiction books’ Robbie, student, Liverpool
‘One of the most beautiful things has been to see the freedom with which young people have engaged with Shakespeare and how they’ve used his work to make something of their own.’
Alfred Enoch, actor
What You Will success
A highlight of our year was the creative competition ‘What You Will’, held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio. Students were challenged to write a new ‘speech’ for a Shakespeare character, bringing their own perspective and voice to these centuries old texts.
Finalists had the opportunity to perform their speeches at a star-studded gala event held at the Criterion Theatre in central London with winners chosen in a number of different categories. Among the winners were a Ukrainian student who arrived in the country as a refugee last year, a young person who created a speech incorporating British Sign Language, and a special education school that created character profiles for guests at the ball in Romeo and Juliet
The programme was a finalist in the National Music and Drama Education Awards and our thanks to the Criterion Theatre Trust and sponsors Cambridge University Press for making it possible.
Front cover of the CSSF drama book
Creative Programmes Manager, Maddie Short (left) and James Dray, Chair of Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation with HM The King at the special reception hosted at Windsor Castle to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio
Voices writing competition
The Voices writing competition is the only one dedicated to children in and leaving care. This year’s awards ceremony was hosted by actor Peter Capaldi (seen above with finalist Grace), alongside former competition winner Claire Wilden. The Voices competition was sponsored by Cadence Innova.
Voices provides an opportunity for participants to express their feelings creatively and build understanding of what it means to be care-experienced. With poems that were described as “breathtaking” by the judges, including authors Patrice Lawrence and Emma Norry, the young finalists showed their enormous potential and talent.
Primary winner, Mali, aged 8 (seen left), said: “It’s not always easy to express how we feel, but writing this poem helped me really understand what makes me, me. We’re all different, and that’s something to celebrate! It’s important for everyone to recognise our differences as a positive.”
Skills for the future
‘The children loved the workshop and learned so much with you. You are incredibly skilled... It is a shame you don’t see the magic you leave behind but I hope you know the difference you make to the schools you work with’ Head teacher, Gloucestershire
‘Being the primary winner feels like a dream come true! It’s like getting a big, warm hug from everyone who read my poem. And it’s not just about winning; it’s about showing people what it’s like to walk in my shoes.’ Mali, aged 8, winner of the Primary Category
In the coming year
We shall present ‘1000 Stories’ from the first decade of the Voices competition and evaluate its impact, and we will also ensure children’s creative talents shine at the heart of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Coram Voice.
This year, 588,295 children in 2,760 primary schools took part in Coram Life Education (CLE)’s relationships, health, wellbeing, and drugs education workshops, while our Coram Beanstalk reading volunteers delivered one-to-one reading support to thousands more children across the country.
SCARF and pupil wellbeing
SCARF, our comprehensive online resources framework for teachers, continued to complement our high-quality, educator-led workshops for 3- to 11-year-olds, alongside free and low-cost staff training, supporting teachers to develop a whole-school approach to wellbeing and mental health, which is known to enhance children’s sense of belonging in school.
During the year, we launched our children’s wellbeing survey tool, based on the validated Stirling survey, to provide evidence on the wellbeing of 8-11-year-old pupils. The survey has already been completed by more than 7,000 pupils, amplifying their voices and helping schools design a whole-school approach to wellbeing informed by children’s feedback.
47,074
SUBSCRIBING TEACHERS
Outstanding results in school
Teachers at Horsenden Primary School in Ealing have been using Coram Life Education’s SCARF resources since December 2021. Headteacher Emma Appelby (pictured) explains “In SCARF, we learn about our relationships, we learn about keeping ourselves safe. The children understand that it is progressive and there has been a positive impact on children understanding their roles and responsibilities and their rights.”
Teachers at the school like the flexibility of SCARF lesson planning and its adaptability to fit within other parts of the curriculum and mental health resources. The SCARF values blend into the school’s key values and feed into their lessons on empowerment and relationships. As Emma explains: “We use it as a whole scheme but we adapt it to suit the needs of our children. The teachers feel really empowered to do that.”
Emma says that the school has fully embedded SCARF, completing all of the assembly resources and revisiting them regularly. The school even has its own SCARF mascot, Harold the Giraffe, complete with his own scarf, which was knitted by the school’s link officer! Emma says the children love to visit Harold in her office and he comes along to assemblies. “I don’t think you can go wrong, who doesn’t love Harold?”
At the Coram Life Education Conference, Emily Beale (seen below) of Breakspear School in Hillingdon explained the role of SCARF in their PHSE programme, judged Outstanding by Ofsted.
Lisa Handy, seen in action in the London Marathon, was one of 58 runners taking on a personal challenge and raising funds for Coram this year
Evan (top left), Hoda (top right) and Mali is (below left) were also amongst the finalists
Empowering children
With the support of the Education Endowment Foundation, we completed a year-long pilot to develop emotional self-regulation for children in the early years, reaching 1,000 children in nurseries in the South West. Greater emotional regulation and social and emotional learning are associated with positive outcomes on attributes including school readiness, attainment, physical and mental health.
Prioritising mental health
This year, CLE prioritised children’s mental health in primary school and nursery settings, with innovative workshops, toolkits and staff training. We launched new mental wellbeing workshops to equip children with the skills and positive mental attitudes they need to be resilient and bounce back from setbacks. Evidence-based and with practical strategies known to enhance mental health and wellbeing, our innovative workshops include in-depth learning about how the human brain works and how to translate this knowledge into positive action that supports mental wellbeing, giving pupils a voice, helping them feel empowered and enabling them to identify and articulate their needs and feelings.
Coram Life Education, Coram Beanstalk and Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation came together to create a free mental wellbeing toolkit during Children’s Mental Health Week, consisting of activities for primary school children designed to improve mental health, underpinned by the five ways to wellbeing: connect with others; be active; take notice (mindfulness); learn and create; and give to others. The toolkit is available to all schools, with resources for key stages one and two, including lesson plans, stories and related activities for each step, helping children to develop and maintain positive mental health habits.
Coram Life Education was proud to be a finalist in the Children and Young People Now Awards.
50 years of creating readers
Coram Beanstalk in-person reading support in schools, helping children to become confident readers. This year, 1,287 volunteers worked on a one-to-one basis with over 8,000 children.
This year was special, as we celebrated our anniversary, with publication of ‘50 Years of Reading Results’, setting out the difference we have made. Since 1973, some 77,000 volunteers have delivered over 12 million volunteer hours to over a quarter of a million children, enabling them to thrive into adulthood.
Some 77% of children supported were eligible for free school meals and 43% for special educational needs support. The overwhelming majority of partner schools saw improvements in attitude, communication skills and improved overall wellbeing through participation in Beanstalk sessions.
Beanstalk’s support has never been more vital, with latest Department for Education figures showing that 1 in 2 children from disadvantaged backgrounds did not meet the expected standard in reading by the end of Key Stage 2, while schools are deeply concerned by the doubling of children within intermittent attendance at school.
This year, we also supported older young people to act as reading leaders to their younger peers and deliver activity sessions to parents and their early years children.
Our thanks go to the Very Group, Pears Foundation, and the Mercers’ Company as trustee of the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington and to volunteers across the country for all their support.
‘It’s the 1-1 connection which opens up the pathway to empathy, to understanding, to knowledge … It’s all about people passing on the love of reading. All power to Coram Beanstalk!’
Michael Murpurgo
3,851
SCHOOLS USING OUR RESOURCES
Reading Leaders
Coram Beanstalk’s Reading Leaders programme trains and equips students from Years 9 – 13 to help younger students improve their reading skills.
Evie, a Year 10 student, said: “Being a part of Reading Leaders has truly been an amazing experience as my peers and I have been able to see our reading partners grow in both confidence and reading fluency. It has been amazing to see my partner take the advice I give and use the techniques I demonstrate as I read and then implement it into her own reading.
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‘Our reading helpers are an important part of the curriculum that we deliver to our children. They help to bridge the gap of attainment and help our children to build confindence.’
Liz Gamet, Luton Primary School
“During these sessions have become more confident and comfortable with giving direct instructions and guidance. Furthermore, being a part of the Reading Leaders course has helped me and many others in the group with applications for Duke of Edinburgh. It is an opportunity to develop excellent communication skills and gain the vital qualities a good leader needs.”
In the coming year
We will design new educator workshops to develop children’s critical-thinking skills around online harms, promote ‘digital citizenship’ and awareness of social media’s impact, and recruit and train more reading volunteers to support children.
200 new schools took part in the Wear Your Scarf to School Day
No matter where
PROFESSIONALS SUPPORTED
Coram continued to work closely with local authorities, partners and social work professionals across the country, fostering innovation to ensure children and families can access consistently high quality services, no matter in the country where they live.
Coram innovation incubator
The Coram Innovation Incubator brings together the expertise of local authorities, along with supporters EY, Microsoft and PA Consulting, to generate, test and scale innovative solutions to shared challenges facing the children’s social care sector.
The CII Innovation Collective is our specialist repository, which collates and shares new, innovative projects from across the children’s services sector and beyond to promote learning and inspire new ways of working. One example, from North Yorkshire Council, presented to a packed innovation forum earlier this year, is an innovative pilot project exploring how a new technology solution can support social workers to keep children safe. Using knowledge mining tools, the solution is able to efficiently search and analyse information from different sources to create relationship maps at the press of a button. The team are looking to use this technology to create comprehensive genograms and ecomaps, which layout the important people and places in a child’s life, to assist social workers to make better, more proactive decisions and help keep children connected to the important people in their lives.
Pioneering practice
Coram is currently delivering its own innovations in the practice of reducing parental conflict through creative therapy intervention in schools, training foster carers to support sleep, diet and exercise and life story work based on Objects in our stories.
CoramBAAF – empowering professionals
CoramBAAF is the UK’s leading membership organisation for professionals working across children’s services in all local authority areas, offering training, events and resources to enable them to deliver consistently high-quality services.
This year, CoramBAAF welcomed the government’s national kinship strategy and continued to influence the development of policy in this area. The ‘Unlawful placements in kinship care practice note’ highlighted the limitations of the current regulations and supported practitioners to navigate these challenges.
In response to concerns across the sector of significant underreporting of private fostering arrangements, CoramBAAF launched Private Fostering Awareness Day to ensure that no vulnerable child slips under the radar and is left without protection and support.
Following the tragic murder of Leiland-James Corkill, CoramBAAF participated in a multi-agency review of Cumbria’s Child Safeguarding Practice Review. The group’s recommendations, including emphasising the use of CoramBAAF’s adult health forms, were accepted by the National Safeguarding Review Panel.
Amid the growing intersection of social care and immigration law, we developed resources to guide professionals regarding Ukrainian children and young people living in kinship arrangements in England.
CoramBAAF published four new books to support practitioners, including Child to Parent Violence and Aggression and eight new editions, and has sold over 22,000 books. We ran more than 200 training courses, including the well-received ‘Making plans for staying in touch’, highlighting the importance of relationships for a child’s identity.
CoramBAAF’s specialist advice line answered over 3,200 queries, up 11% on last year, and now also provides guidance on the complex area of outbound placements.
‘Our scheme making a huge impact to the community, specially for the families who struggle to get the access to the services because of the language barrier... Many volunteers have background in education , so they keen to support with stay and play session around Norfolk.’
Lesia Sakhkova – Parent champions Norfolk
Calling for childcare reform
Coram Family and Childcare ’s annual childcare survey, published in March, is the authoritative report on childcare costs and availability across the country. CFC continues to be the leading voice in the sector calling for access to affordable and high-quality childcare.
As the roll-out of the government’s expansion to free early education entitlements began, CFC’s survey revealed a bleak picture for families, with dramatic drops in the availability of childcare places, and an above inflation rise in childcare costs. The findings showed that it is the most disadvantaged children who are missing out, with just 6% of local authorities reporting sufficient childcare for children with disabilities, 12 percent down on 2023. It also found that only 28% of English local authorities are confident there will be enough places to meet demand for the free childcare expansion in September 2024 (15 free hours from nine months), and this falls to just 12% for the expansion in September 2025 (30 hours from nine months).
There was widespread national media coverage of the findings, including on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, BBC Breakfast, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent.
Ellen Broomé, Managing Director of CFC, said: “The new childcare support that is being rolled out has the potential to be a game-changer for parents up and down the country.
“Our findings show the scale of the challenge and the very real risks around this policy not living up to parents’ expectations. We call upon government to commit to reforming our childcare system to make sure all children can access high quality early years education.”
Parent Champions in action
Trained volunteer parent champions from diverse communities work with local authorities to ensure that all families are able to take up their early years entitlements. There are now 43 schemes supported from Croydon to Carmarthenshire and from Lambeth to Leicestershire, all benefitting from the training, resources and awards recognition provided by Coram Family and Childcare.
Coram Hempsall’s joining Coram
In November 2023, the leading children’s sector consultancy and training organisation Hempsall’s joined the Coram Group to become Coram Hempsall’s.
Founded in 1999 by James Hempsall OBE, Coram Hempsall’s provides project management, consultancy and research in early years and childcare, as well as delivering relevant training workshops and courses. Coram Hempsall’s supports organisations independently and within Childcare Works programmes – notably in early years, childcare, the Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF), local authorities, and central governments – to achieve change and deliver best practice, with a particular focus on tackling inequality and the effects of disadvantage.
Across 2023, a total of 5.3 million HAF days were provided during Easter, summer, and winter delivery. Over Summer 2023, 680,000 children and young people attended the holiday activities and food programme. Of these participating children, over 560,000 were funded directly by the HAF programme and over 460,000 were receiving benefits-related free school meals.
James Hempsall, Managing Director of Coram Hempsall’s said: “We are fast approaching our 25th year of supporting providers, businesses, charities, schools, local authorities, and government departments across the UK and the world.
“We know there is still vital work to be done, and joining the Coram Group enables us to engage with their extensive network of partners and play an even bigger part in the evolution of childcare and early education, which will be high on the agenda for government and policy makers in the months and years ahead.”
A global influence
Coram International provides professional support to local, national and international governments and organisations seeking to improve their commitment to upholding children’s rights.
Child-friendly legal aid
Our work with UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) is designed to empower lawyers and other legal practitioners with specialist knowledge and skills to provide child-friendly legal services, supporting children’s access to justice. Whether children come into contact with the law in criminal, civil or administrative matters, they may have suffered difficult and traumatic events. Our evidence-based training places the child’s voice and views at the centre of legal proceedings and ensures that children feel empowered, safe and are treated with compassion throughout the process.
This rights-based training brings UNICEF ECARO’s Guidelines on Child-Friendly Legal Aid to life and includes modules on strategic litigation and children on the move. Training sessions for trainers have been delivered so far in Bulgaria, Turkiye, Poland and Ukraine.
‘Coram International’s Youth Advisory Board for Child Protection is a truly inspiring effort that is paving the way for a brighter future for children and youth worldwide.’ Lira, Valenzuela City in the Philippines
Strengthening protection
Coram International mapped young people’s participation within schools and their communities across eight countries in the Pacific Islands (Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu). We interviewed 171 participants in government agencies, NGOs and youth organisations and 187 young people, as well as an online survey with over 700 young people. The findings will underpin the new Pacific Youth Development Strategy and Framework, which will direct investment in youth development in the Pacific for the next 10 years.
Building workforce capacity
A new online training package and social work supervision framework for UNICEF Belize provides coaching for middle managers and makes recommendations for the establishment of a training unit. The detailed mapping of the social service workforce for UNICEF Jordan is forming the basis for a national workplan for the social service workforce, whilst a capacity gap analysis for UNICEF Bangladesh assessed workforce competencies and capabilities for its child protection needs. This work benefits children by ensuring professionals have the capacities and competencies needed to deliver quality services.
Eliminating child marriage
The meta-analysis conducted for UNICEF South Asia Regional Office considered programmes to reduce or eliminate child marriage in South Asia. It analysed programmes covering education, income and economic strengthening, girls’ empowerment, social norms change, law and policy, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health to determine how, why and under what circumstances the programmes were effective. The findings from this are currently being used in Phase III of the development of the UNICEF-UNFPA Global programme to End Child Marriage.
In the coming year
A major focus of Coram International’s work in the next year will be an evaluation of UNICEF’s Reimagining Justice for Children Agenda to deliver access to justice for children globally. The evaluation will establish a baseline of UNICEF’s readiness to deliver the new agenda and will also include a number of case studies to identify good practice models.
Visit from Ukraine
Coram was proud to receive a visit from a delegation of ministers and officials from Ukraine hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office with the Chief Social Worker for Children as the country looks to reform and rebuild its social welfare system.
Coram International’s previous work with UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) to evaluate childcare reform initiatives with a strong focus on deinstitutionalisation – notably for children with disabilities – was of particular relevance. The delegation was interested in the learning and recommendations of this project as well as the history of Coram and the current processes and learning from the UK care system to inform the future development of children’s services in Ukraine.
WORKED WITH
Seen here are Isabelle Trowler CBE, Chief Social Worker for Children, Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, and Dr Carol Homden, Coram CEO
A society that cares
RESEARCH REPORTS, BOOKS AND JOURNALS
Through delivery and research, Coram builds understanding of what works for children and families and uses this to work with local authorities, policy makers, parliamentarians and government to turn insight into impact.
Coram at the party conferences
Having led the childcare debate through publication of our national survey on costs and availability, Coram led debates at packed events at both the Labour and Conservative party conferences on how best we can deliver high quality, affordable childcare for all children and families. Ellen Broomé, Managing Director of Coram Family and Childcare (CFC), spoke alongside Children’s Minister David Johnston MP at the Conservative conference on how we can best build an early years workforce for the future. And the following week at the Labour conference, Coram CEO Dr Carol Homden led the ‘Childcare: a missed opportunity to narrow the gap’ debate, with speakers including Shadow Children’s Minister Helen Hayes and Joseph Rowntree Foundation Policy Adviser Abby Jitendra.
Research impact
The Coram Impact and Evaluation team works with public sector, commercial and third-sector organisations as well as children, parents and academics to evaluate services for families and children and help improve them.
The randomised control trial on family group conferences (FGCs), conducted by Coram for Foundations (the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care) in conjunction with delivery partner Daybreak, was praised for its rigour and results, indicating that systematic use of the approach could enable more children to remain safely with their families and not need care.
In the coming year we will build on this with work to better understand the data that local authorities are collecting on the use of FGCs to help build a picture of access across England.
Our ‘Patterns of Early Permanence in London’ report, undertaken for Adoption England, identified a series of drivers that could improve the rate of early permanence adoption placements in London and ensure more children find the loving home they need without delay.
The case study evaluation of family hubs in six local authorities across England, commissioned by the LGA, highlighted the importance of strong relationships - both with organisations that will deliver the services and public bodies such as GP surgeries and schools who can signpost children and families to family hubs. The family hubs work provides an opportunity for local authorities to rethink how they design and deliver services to best meet families’ needs.
Coram is now leading the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Department for Education ‘Supporting Families Programme Systemic Practice’ pilot study. The programme supports families facing multiple disadvantage to make significant and sustained improvements in their lives across a range of issues.
Advancing youth insight
Anthony, Esther, Zoe and Ocean (left to right) developed In Between Lines as a peer support programme to explore and issues of navigating identity in blended families. They shared their lived experience at the annual conference of the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies hosted by Coram this year.
Coram’s policy and research work is informed by extensive peer and participatory research. Anthony and Zoe have worked as the convenors of Youth Insight, providing research entry placements for young researchers. The Complex Identities Forum will present their findings with responses from leading academics as part of the development of the Coram Institute.
Policy briefings and evidence
Amongst dozens of policy briefings and consultation responses informed by our research and service delivery, Coram this year provided witness statement evidence to the Covid Enquiry to highlight issues around national readiness and its implications for children of the pandemic. We also provided a major response to the Civil Legal Aid Review. Coram continued to deliver the Independent Review Mechanism for Adoption and Fostering, the Secretariat and data collection for adoption and special guardianship for the Department for Education, and independent analysis and extensive real time data and testimony to inform policy makers.
Coram Society
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was amongst the contributors to Paul Lindley’s book ‘Raising the Nation’, launched at Coram to broaden debate on the national agenda for children. Other distinguished visitors included the Rt Revd Bishop of London. The Coram Society also explored concepts of the ‘undeserving poor’ through the ages with leading social commentator Polly Toynbee, and the role of music in the story of the Foundling Hospital. 30,000 visitors had the opportunity to explore Coram’s history and its Foundling Hospital collection, on loan to the Foundling Museum.
In the coming year
We shall publish new research on the impact of creative programmes for disadvantaged young people and continue to inform parliamentary debate and policy making to turn insight into impact.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was among the key attendees at the launch at Coram of Paul Lindley’s new book ‘Raising the Nation’, a manifesto setting out how all children can thrive
Shadow Children’s Minister Helen Hayes (below left) Rt Revd Bishop of London (below right)
2.3 MILLION
CHILDREN IN THE UK ARE LIVING WITH RISK
Charter for Children
In December we published the Coram Charter for Children, calling for a realignment of the social contract between society and its children and young people, through implementation of a ‘triple key’ of financial commitments designed to give them a fair share of national resources.
With a route map for change for the coming decade and beyond, the Charter argues that just as the triple lock on pensions has built economic security into the system for older people, we now need to give the youngest in society similar levels of security.
Areas covered include benefits, childcare and early years education, and the need to ensure that all policies are assessed against impact on children and young people with improved measurement and a key focus on ensuring all children have an equal chance and a secure future.
In the coming year, we will work in partnership with government and sector colleagues to ensure that every child has the best possible chance in life.
‘For too long, we have failed to invest in our children and the result has been the rise in poverty and deprivation and the tragic blight of young lives that is now visible across the country. It is time for change, and we will all read with interest the compelling blueprint Coram has set out for the realignment of the social contract between society and children.’
Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Coram Institute for Children
We have now embarked on a two-year development phase, working with others across academic, public, private and charity sectors, to launch the Coram Institute for Children. The only think-and-do centre dedicated to children, the Institute will place youth insight at its heart and collaborate with relevant partners to deliver solutions to the challenges children and young people face.
In the coming year we will work to achieve recognition as a research centre and deepen our partnerships with Newcastle University, University College London and the Churchill Fellowship and create new facilities for our work.
Building public support
Thanks to the generous support of JCDecaux, we delivered our first national outdoor advertising campaign for a decade.
If you can help us create better chances for children or would like more information, please contact corporateaffairs@coram.org.uk.
Baroness Floella Benjamin speaking at the parliamentary launch of the Coram Charter
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Coram