The practical and ethical issues associated with obtaining informed consent from children and young people living in residential state care for their participation in a research study are explored in this paper. Research involving the participation of these young people has received comparatively limited attention in the social sciences: this is due to several reasons including the challenging methodological and ethical issues associated with undertaking such research. These can be categorized as the practical issues of gaining direct contact with these (...) young people through gaining the consent of relevant gatekeepers and the process of gaining a favourable opinion from a research ethics committee. Whilst the principles of clarity and consistency of practice are key elements in the process of accessing consent to participate in research, flexibility and imagination are also important skills for the researcher when developing the appropriate protocols for research in an area of social policy which can be methodologically and ethically complex. (shrink)