Authors: Martha Julings, Georgina Cowen
The STARS programme was jointly commissioned by the DN2 partnership of Derby City Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. It aims to support targeted cohorts of children and young people in local authority (LA) care and the edge of care to achieve better outcomes. The programme is funded using a Social Impact Bond (SIB) model, with funding from the Department for Education’s National Life Chances Fund in addition to co-investment from Outcomes for Children (Polaris Group) and Futures Limited.
STARS provides wrap-around support for families to enable young people aged 8 to 18 to achieve stable placements, whether with their birth-family or foster carers. The multi- disciplinary team consists of social workers, family key workers, education staff, a therapist, and peer mentors. Interventions are informed by the Team Parenting and Safer Stronger Families1 evidence-based models.
York Consulting was commissioned to evaluate the STARS programme by Nottinghamshire County Council, on behalf of the DN2 partnership. The evaluation, conducted between October 2023 and February 2025, involved an initial scoping phase followed by two waves of primary research with practitioners, parents and carers, and children and young people (CYP).