We believe that all children in care deserve to reach their potential

 
 
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About us and what we do

The Research Centre for Better Outcomes from Fostering and Residential Care (Better Outcomes) is a New Zealand-based research centre and social enterprise; we exist to help organisations in New Zealand, Australia and internationally, to generate and use evidence and learning so that children and young people in or leaving out-of-home care (OOHC) can thrive.

The Centre’s inaugural Director is Dr Iain Matheson. Iain has over 30 years of OOHC experience as a practitioner, independent reviewing officer, manager, senior leader, consultant, and researcher. Before moving into consultancy and research Iain was the New Zealand government’s national manager for residential and foster care, and prior to that the children’s services strategic development manager with Aberdeenshire Housing and Social Work in Scotland. However he started his career as a residential worker working in both Scotland and England.

His experience is backed up by postgraduate qualifications in social work, child protection, social services management and evaluation research, as well as international accreditation as a certified management consultant. His 2015 doctorate from the University of Otago was on the experiences of care leavers who went to university.

Primarily working with organisations in New Zealand and Australia, he has undertaken a number of international research studies on OOHC and has also presented his research findings internationally in Canada, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Spain. He is a member of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care editorial board, as well as a steering group member of the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC). He also established and led the international 3,000+ member Education of Children in Care Network on LinkedIn.

Connect with us

Work with us

  • Request a bespoke webinar, online masterclass, or training workshop from Iain

  • Invite Iain to keynote at your conference

  • Address OOHC challenges and opportunities with a 3 or 6 month leadership or team online mentoring program

  • Commission OOHC evaluation or research

  • Let us support your design and/or implementation of a new OOHC strategy, service, program or project

Partner with us

  • Invite Iain to be a member of an organisational or project OOHC/child welfare research and evaluation advisory board

  • Negotiate an individual retainer arrangement for the provision of ongoing OOH/child welfare advice and support

  • Co-design an individual OOHC evaluation or research study with one or both of us doing the data collection, analysis, and reporting as preferred

  • Design and roll-out organisation-wide OOHC change programs

 
 
 
 

We make sense of complexity and help organisations use evidence to achieve better outcomes

 
 
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Who we work with

We work both nationally and internationally with government agencies, NGOs, universities and other research centres. The following are some of the organisations we work with:

 
 
 
 
 
 

Current & previous research projects

 
 
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The New Zealand Care to Work Pathways Study

This study represents the New Zealand replication of research that has already been carried out in Ireland and Spain, and is also being replicated in Sweden, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Canada, as part of an international collaborative research project. Supported by Barnardos, Key Assets, VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai and Youth Horizons, this research is investigating how care leavers aged 23 to 27 get on in the world of work.

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Improving Postsecondary Education Planning for Children in, and Transitioning from, OOHC

Led by Associate Professor Andrew Harvey at La Trobe’s Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, this research project will provide foundational research to map and analyse postsecondary education planning processes for Victorian children in, and transitioning from, out-of-home care (OOHC).

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Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children: TRANSITIONING FROM OOHC EVIDENCE REVIEWs

This ‘voice of the expert’ series of five evidence reviews, along with other work on ‘the voice of young people’ and the ‘voice of intent’, informed the design of the new transitioning from OOHC services. The evidence reviews were on:

·      Preparation and planning

·      Extended foster care

·      Supported living/accommodation

·      Relationship-based support and

·      System-wide issues