Children in Charge? How might IROs navigate the demands of the professional role to improve agency for young people in care planning? A participatory study.

Care-experienced people often cite feelings of lack of control over their lives whilst in care. As an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) of over ten years, I was interested in exploring care-experienced people’s views of how IROs can best use care reviews and their professional role to increase care-experienced young people’s participation in their own care planning, improving feelings of agency. Critical Realism was used as a holistic framework to underpin the study, specifically considering Bhaskar’s four Planes of Social Functioning (Bhaskar, 2014). A participatory model was used, with a research group formed of two care-experienced young adults and one IRO. The group devised, conducted, and analysed the research. The methodology involved focus groups with eight care-experienced people (both in-care and care leavers) and seven IROs. Four themes emerged using Thematic Analysis - the importance of relationships, choice, adult-focused meetings and approaches, and the impact of Local Authority demands. Subthemes of the effects of restricted resources and the lack of understanding of the IRO role also emerged. Considering the data holistically, a picture appeared of a defensive system which avoids co-creation and has limited consultation with young people. Experiences of IROs varied; however, examples of IROs acting as facilitators, allies, interpreters, and negotiators were given. The study asserts that IROs are well placed to use their professional role to promote agency, despite organisational constraints, especially if they remain in the position for some time and can facilitate their role effectively considering the four Planes of Social Functioning. IROs can facilitate change, moving beyond tokenistic consultation towards meaningful co-production of reviews, modelling this for care planning. Care-experienced people are not asking to be in charge but want significant engagement and to be part of the planning process.