detailed documentation of a child’s journey through their life in care and providing an essential platform to share information and safeguard children. Records play a key role in shaping policy and practice, as well as providing data which informs ongoing development of strategies to address complex social care challenges. At the same time, records provide local authorities and government with the insight to challenge difficulties and celebrate success. This research, undertaken by care-experienced project workers in Essex, explores a rich tapestry of themes, perspectives and recommendations that have emerged from a collaboration between children in care, care leavers, the care-experienced workforce, the Involvement Service, User Research teams and managers and leaders at Essex County Council. 2. Foreword from Anya Pretty My name is Anya and I’m a care-experienced Junior Project Support Worker employed by Essex County Council. This job has meant a lot to me as I have loved learning about research. I started my journey in June 2023 at Anglia Ruskin University and learnt a lot about the different types of research. I then had meetings with managers at Essex County Council and listened to their views about records. I spoke to our Access to Records Manager about the access to files process, exploring the issue of redacted information and data protection. They answered some of our questions and it turns out a lot of work goes into this and it is not just a straight forward process. We have also linked up with different organisations doing similar projects to share learning, including the University College London, Mirra and the University of Copenhagen. We used this learning to come up with questions and activities to explore with children and young people at It’s My Life Fe