'Speaking for Children in Care' Group
Hi,
We are the Speaking for Children in Care Group (S.C.C.). We meet on a fortnightly basis with staff members from Children’s Services and the National Youth Advocacy Service to discuss how to make things better for kids in care – just like us!
We want to tell you a little more about who we are, what we have achieved and what we have planned for 2008 so that you can get involved!
The S.C.C group members are:
Cody
Dean
Kate
Kirsty
Jake
Tom
We are all aged between 11 & 18 years of age. We work with 7 members of staff - Alison, Ian, Tracy, Cathie, Ffion, Caroline and Abigail.
Our goal is to help young people in care get involved and to give everyone the chance to be heard. By telling Social Services what we think, it will help them know what we want in the future.
Recently some of the older members of the S.C.C moved on to set up a similar group for Care Leavers. After much debate this group called themselves the Care Leavers’ Support Network (the C.L.S.N for short!).
The C.L.S.N meets on a fortnightly basis with staff from Children’s Services. The group has only been running since January 2008 so is still building up membership. We currently have two vacancies on the group which we are hoping to fill as soon as possible. If you are interested why not get in touch with Alison on 01352 702655.
The C.L.S.N group members are:
Hayley
Leigh
Tom
They work with 4 members of staff - Jo, Alison, Tracy & Caroline.
What Have S.C.C. Achieved?
In 2007 we won an ‘Excellence Wales’ award for our hard work!
We have produced welcome packs for children coming into care. The packs contain toiletries, information leaflets and a message of support from the group. We will be making up another batch of packs during June 08.
We organise regular Speak-Out events to give young people the chance to have a say about Children’s Services. We recently helped arrange an event with young people from Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire which was good.
We helped organise 2 awards ceremonies to celebrate the achievements of young people in care and care leavers during 2007. Our contribution was so good we’ve been invited to do this again this year.
We have interviewed people for jobs in Children’s Services. The last job we interviewed for was the Children’s Safeguarding Manager.
We have interviewed advocates for the National Youth Advocacy Service. We also helped NYAS select their North East Wales Participation Officer.
We attend lots of consultation events
We have been organising ‘Drop In’ sessions for nearly a year but attendance hasn’t been as high as we were hoping. We’ve written a report for senior managers about this so the sessions are on hold until we hear back.
Two group members sit on the Children’s Services Forum (this a really important meeting where lots of decisions are made) & we ensure young people have a voice
Tom sit on the Children’s Services Forum (this a really important meeting where lots of decisions are made) & we ensure young people have a voice.
Individually we have developed lots of new skills. In fact one member got a permanent job recently and the employer said she clinched it over everyone else because of all the skills she had gained as a member of the group!
If you have time please check out our Speak-Out! reports below:
Upcoming Events
If you are like us and in care or involved with the Leaving Care Team you are welcome to join us.
o We are organising a Speak-Out! event for the summer holidays & will be writing to you nearer the time to tell you all about it.
Your Say!
This is the section where you can have your say.
If you have anything to you want to tell the SCC group please contact us and we can upload information onto the site. You can e mail us on
speak-out@hotmail.co.uk or post off your views to:
Alison Davies
Children’s Services
County Hall
Mold
Flintshire
CH7 6ND
Be sure to include your name and age!
Thanks for taking the time to read our page.