Dr Maggie Grant

Lecturer in Social Work

Social Work Colin Bell Building, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr Maggie Grant

Contact details

About me

My research focuses on two particular areas: separated children who have migrated to the UK unaccompanied by parents or caregivers, and children and young people in kinship, foster and adoptive families.

I teach across the social work qualifying and post-qualifying programmes, and am the Pathway Lead for the PG Certificate in Child Welfare and Protection.

My current / recent roles including leading an AHRC-funded project examining long-term support for children in Scotland who have been trafficked, and a number of smaller project also involving separated and trafficked children and young people. I am co-I for Permanently Progressing? - the first longitudinal study in Scotland to explore experiences of care experienced children and young people who first became ‘looked after’ at home or away from home in 2012-2013., with the second phase completed in 2024.

I’m also currently working with Syrian colleagues on a study of young people's political participation as part of the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) Syria Programme. Prior to starting in research, I worked for refugee support organisations in London and Syria (UNRWA), with a particular focus on supporting people to access education and find employment.

I have previously completed studies on how the Covid-19 pandemic affected separated young people's social connections and support (funded by ESRC), education support and befriending services for separated children (with the Scottish Refugee Council and Aberlour), kinship families’ experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic (funded by the Chief Scientist's Office), an evaluation of the TESSA adoption support service (with University of Strathclyde) and the piloting of a training programme for carers of unaccompanied children (with CoramBAAF and the International Organisation for Migration).

In 2015, I co-founded the Association for Kinship, Adoption and Fostering Scotland, a multi-disciplinary organisation that supports practitioners working in fostering, kinship and adoption. Until 2019, I developed and managed the research service at AFKA alongside fixed-term research contracts at Stirling University, University of Glasgow and King's College London.

I have a PhD in Mental Health from City University London and an MSc in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

My research interests include adoption, fostering, kinship care and migration, and in particular understanding the legacy of childhood experiences and how this can change across the lifecourse. I've worked primarily on mixed methods studies, using a range of methodological approaches depending on the questions being explored.

Having worked in the third sector for 15 years, I'm always keen to make sure that research reaches, and can be used by, a wide range of audiences. I'm  interested in how writing and other ways of telling stories about our lives and communities can support this kind of work.

Research projects (8)

Permanently Progressing Phase 3: Adolescence and early adulthood
PI: Dr Helen Whincup
Funded by: The Nuffield Foundation and Donors (UK)
–

Permanently Progressing? Phase Two: Middle Childhood
PI: Dr Helen Whincup
Funded by: The Nuffield Foundation and Donors (UK)
–

Improving survivor-informed support for trafficked children and young people - it's a long-term commitment
PI: Dr Maggie Grant
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Supporting separated migrant children to thrive during COVID-19
PI:
Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council
–

Safer Places Evaluation
PI: Professor Ruth Emond
Funded by: Aberlour Child Care Trust
–

'Vulnerable' families in a time of pandemic
PI: Professor Jane Callaghan
Funded by: Chief Scientist Office
–

Befriending Services for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Scotland
PI:
Funded by: Scottish Government
–

Towards best practice in educating and supporting separated children in Scotland Research Tender Specification
PI: Dr Sian Lucas
Funded by: Scottish Refugee Council
–

Outputs (42)

Conference Paper (unpublished)

A continuum of violence? An exploration of the lived experience of the UK asylum system through the voices of children and young people who have experienced trafficking and professionals’ that support them

Fotopoulou M & Grant M (2025) A continuum of violence? An exploration of the lived experience of the UK asylum system through the voices of children and young people who have experienced trafficking and professionals’ that support them. Annual conference of the Migration and Mobilities Research Network (MMRN), Edinburgh, 19.06.2025-19.06.2025.

Research Report

Survivor-informed support for trafficked children in Scotland

Grant M, Fotopoulou M, Hunter S, Malloch M, Rigby P & Taylor K (2023) Survivor-informed support for trafficked children in Scotland. AHRC- Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre. https://modernslaverypec.org/resources/trafficked-children-scotland

Research Report

Supporting Roots: Support for birth parents in Scotland

Critchley A, Grant M, Hardy M & Cleary J (2023) Supporting Roots: Support for birth parents in Scotland. Scottish Government. Edinburgh. https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2023/02/supporting-roots/documents/final-report-supporting-roots/final-report-supporting-roots/govscot%3Adocument/final-report-supporting-roots.pdf

Research Report

Children Moving Between UK Nations

Cleary J & Grant M (2022) Children Moving Between UK Nations. Scotland's Adoption Register. https://afkascotland.org/children-moving-between-uk-nations/

Website Content

The Odyssey of the new policy: Reflections on the UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill (Part 1)

Fotopoulou M, Grant M, Malloch M, Rigby P & Taylor K (2022) The Odyssey of the new policy: Reflections on the UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill (Part 1). University of Stirling Public Policy Blog [Policy blog post] 03.05.2022. https://policyblog.stir.ac.uk/2022/05/03/the-odyssey-of-the-new-policy-reflections-on-the-uks-nationality-and-borders-bill-part-1/

Policy Document

Children looked after away from home aged five and under in Scotland: experiences, pathways and outcomes. Insights for policymakers and practitioners

Cusworth L, Bieha N, Whincup H, Grant M & Hennessy A (2019) Children looked after away from home aged five and under in Scotland: experiences, pathways and outcomes. Insights for policymakers and practitioners. University of Stirling. Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland. Stirling. https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/public-policy-hub/policy-briefings/

Research Report

Perspectives on kinship care, foster care and adoption: the voices of children, carers and adoptive parents

Grant M, Whincup H & Burgess C (2019) Perspectives on kinship care, foster care and adoption: the voices of children, carers and adoptive parents. University of Stirling. Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland. Stirling. https://www.stir.ac.uk/media/stirling/services/faculties/social-sciences/research/documents/permanently-progressing/Children-Carers-and-Adoptive-Parents--Final-Report.pdf

Research Report

Decision making for children

Whincup H, Grant M, Burgess C & Biehal N (2019) Decision making for children. Commissioned by an anonymous donor. Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland. Stirling. https://afascotland.com/learning-zone/permanently-progressing

Other

Permanently Progressing? Summary 2017

Whincup H & Grant M (2017) Permanently Progressing? Summary 2017 [Permanently Progressing? Building secure futures for children in Scotland]. [Project update]. Scotland.

Policy Document

Adoption Of Disabled Children

Grant M & Thomas C (2013) Adoption Of Disabled Children. Department for Education, UK Government. BAAF Briefing. https://www.celcis.org/knowledge-bank/search-bank/adoption-disabled-children-review-research/

Research centres/groups