Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Ruth Copson is an Associate Tutor and PhD researcher in the School of Social Work. Her research focuses on two aspects of social work practice – Early Permanence (aka ‘Fostering for Adoption’ or ‘Concurrency’), where a baby is temporarily fostered by prospective adopters who may go on to adopt them, and supervised contact (or ‘Family Time’). This is the time that a baby spends with their birth parents during care proceedings, usually in a contact centre supervised by a professional. Contact takes place for the majority of children in care and Ruth’s research aims to offer a unique insight into how this contact is managed and experienced by all those involved, including birth parents. She has a particular interest in using observational methods to glean a greater understanding into infants’ experiences of contact.
Ruth qualified as a social worker in 2011 after completing an MA in Social Work at the University of East Anglia. After initially working in a child protection team, she moved to Norfolk Adoption Service in 2013 where she took a lead role in the Fostering for Adoption scheme. Before commencing her PhD, Ruth worked for a Voluntary Adoption Agency in London. Alongside practising as a social worker, Ruth completed an MA in Advanced Social Work in 2018, undertaking a small scale research project on Fostering for Adoption carers’ relationships with birth parents. She currently works part time as an Independent Social Worker, specialising in adoption.
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Evaluation of the Letter Swap Pilot: Briefing
Neil, E., Rimmer, J., Rawcliffe, C. & Copson, R., 31 Mar 2024, Centre for Research on Children and Families, UEA.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile31 Downloads (Pure) -
Evaluation of the Letter Swap Pilot: Final Report
Neil, E., Rimmer, J., Rawcliffe, C. & Copson, R., 31 Mar 2024, Centre for Research on Children and Families, UEA. 59 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile64 Downloads (Pure) -
Relationship-based practice and digital technology in child and family social work: Learning from practice during the COVID-19 pandemic
Copson, R., Murphy, A., Cook, L., Neil, E. & Sorensen, P., 1 Mar 2022, In: Developmental Child Welfare. 4, 1, p. 3-19 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile15 Citations (Scopus)30 Downloads (Pure) -
Contact during lockdown: How are children and their birth families keeping in touch? Main report
Neil, E., Copson, R. & Sorensen, P., 21 May 2020, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. 54 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open Access -
Contact during lockdown: How are children and their birth families keeping in touch? Briefing paper
Neil, E., Copson, R. & Sorensen, P., 21 May 2020, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. 6 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open Access