Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond evaluation

April 2021

Barnardo’s appointed Cordis Bright to provide an independent process and impact evaluation of See, Hear, Respond (SHR), a £7.25m programme funded by the Department for Education to support children and young people adversely affected by COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown. The purpose of SHR was to bring together a consortium of national and community-based charities and other partners to offer a range of online, face-to-face, group and detached youth work, including support to help children reintegrate back into education. 

The evaluation included consultation with more than 100 programme stakeholders and delivery partners, consultation with children and young people, parents and carers, an E-survey of children and analysis of needs, activity and outcomes data collected via the charity partners. The evaluation findings included:

• Implementation of SHR: The SHR programme was collaboratively designed and implemented at pace, including agreeing a model of support, implementing the necessary governance, accountability and programme management infrastructure, commissioning a network of providers, establishing a range of referral pathways; and setting up performance management systems.
• Effective identification of children and families requiring support: Between June and November 2020, SHR worked with over 43,000 children. Stakeholders reported that the partnership model was critical to success, with many grass roots organisations providing a critical link to families and communities.
• Effective delivery of support: SHR successfully met or exceeded its targets for the number of packages of support delivered and children supported by each work strand. A range of factors contributed to this achievement including the responsiveness of the programme and the experience, expertise and diverse range of partners included in the SHR network.
• Good quality support: Feedback from children and families and delivery partner case closure forms indicates that the support provided by SHR was appropriate and of high quality. Stakeholders reported that SHR’s mixed economy of organisations, work strands and support packages meant that children and families could engage in a variety of ways tailored to their needs.

Further, a range of evidence suggested that in the short-term SHR has had a positive impact on children, young people and families, including:

• Children felt more supported.
• Children experienced reduced feelings of isolation or loneliness.
• Children were successfully supported to reintegrate to education.
• Children were supported to access additional services and community support.

As well as these outcomes, the evaluation also identified key learning from the programme about the impact of COVID-19 on children and families and the role that the VCS can play in supporting outcomes by working collaboratively, which may be useful for those interested in developing similar initiatives.

To access the full evaluation report please click here.   To access the evaluation report executive summary please click here.  

For further information about this evaluation, please contact Joshua Butt E: JoshuaButt@cordisbright.co.uk or Stephen Boxford E: StephenBoxford@cordisbright.co.uk