Network meeting: GIRFEC – What’s up?
Welcome to the 2025 Annual Network Meeting, organized within the framework of the research program Connected Children. This meeting brings together professionals engaged in development work inspired by the Scottish model Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).
During the network meeting, an update will be given on how far GIRFEC and Scotland-inspired models have come in Scotland and Sweden. We will highlight the situational picture, as well as the challenges and choices that the development work faces today. The meeting includes presentations from and invites to direct dialogues with researchers at the Scottish research institute Scotlands’s Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS) who have investigated how far the work with GIRFEC has come in Scotland, as well as how children's well-being has changed since the introduction of the model. In addition, we will learn how the Scottish Government is prioritising the work going forward.
We will also work in workshop form on the participation of children and young people. Here we start from the question of how we can learn from and together with children and young people in order to improve support and opportunities for participation.
In a number of seminars, researchers in Connected Children will also present results from their research on the model, what it has meant for children and young people, employees and what may be required for the model to work as intended.
Invited speakers:
- Dr Heather Ottaway, Head of Evidence and Innovation, CELCIS.
- Dr Alexander McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist, CELCIS.
- Dr Emma Hanley, Complex Change Lead, CELCIS.
- Jane Scott, Head of Early Help and Protection, CELSIS.
Scottish Government Policy Leads for GIRFEC - Eilidh McCreath
- Sharon MacDonald
- Barry Percy-Smith, professor emeritus in Childhood and Participatory Practice, University of Huddersfield.
Parts of the network meeting will be held in English, others in Swedish.
About Linnaeus University
Linnaeus University is a creative and international knowledge environment that promotes curiosity, creativity, companionship and utility. More than 44,000 students are registered at Linnaeus University.
Linnaeus University is located in Växjö and Kalmar and offers 150 degree programmes and 1,300 single-subject courses. Linnaeus University was e
stablished in 2010 through a merger between Växjö University and Kalmar University College.
With some 2,100 employees and 44,000 students it is a modern university with Småland as its base and the world as its arena. Studying and working at Linnaeus University involves being part of an environment that is characterised by knowledge and development. Students acquire new knowledge and learn to have a critical approach. Researchers make new discoveries that can bring change to our society. Employees share stories of a workplace with both challenges and opportunities. Linnaeus University is a university where people can reach their full potential.