Why?
The ANV AMPLIFY awards aim to champion and recognise the work of children in care councils and care leaver forums. They were held in October 2022 (Amplify – Coram Voice) – Havering children in care council were nominated for the ‘Participation award’.
What?
Young people worked together & wrote a ‘pledge’ based on their experiences – it is a list of promises to children in care to make sure Havering is a good corporate parent.
The pledge covers the areas young people thought were most important, making sure the council:
• Listen to you
• Look after you & treat you well
• Help you achieve your full potential in education
• Help you to keep healthy & well.
The work was praised by the young people judges: “This nomination is a really awesome idea. It is really great to hear the concept of holding staff and professionals to account and doing so through a pledge…this is a brilliant idea that all authorities should be on board with!”
Impact
The pledge is how children and young people can hold the council to account – the content of it forms the agenda for the corporate parenting panel & young people attend and ask for progress updates / scrutinise what work has (and has not) been done.
Professionals reflected that the work, “really do make adults think, they do really make us actually do what we say ‘on the tin’”.
