In the beginning....

The stimulus for setting up the Institute for Child Care Research was the introduction of the Children Order (NI) 1995. As with similar legislation in the rest of the UK, the Children Order dramatically shifted the philosophical, legal, policy and ethical basis of the state’s relationship with children and the family. Since that time, the key drivers for our work have been:  

• the demand for research that can help policy makers and practitioners to improve children’s lives;  
• the need to build and sustain capacity in applied research, particularly within social care;
• opportunities to undertake significant and rigorous research that can deliver advances in our knowledge and understanding of children’s lives;  
• children's rights as set out in the United national Convention on the Rights of the Child.