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 2024 (Amplify – Coram Voice) – Wakefield’s Build Our Futures Children in Care Council were nominated for the ‘Campaign award’.
What?
In 2023, Build Our Futures said their priority was to have better and fewer rules, because they said that they felt like they were treated differently to friends who aren’t in care. They decided to role play being foster carers and decide what rules they would set. They agreed that:
- Rules are needed to keep young people safe
- They needed to go to bed early and get plenty of sleep
- They should wear a helmet when riding a bike
- They should be kind and share things
However, they also felt that some rules that adults find easy to follow might be more difficult for a young person in care to follow. They asked their adult workers, “What rules did you hate when you were a child?”. The answers varied:
- “Do your homework straight after school”
- “Couldn’t grow my hair”
- “Wash the pots”
The 16+ Forum came together and decided that bad rules lead to risk taking behaviour. Blanket rules are often in place, but don’t account for individual young people within the fostering or residential home. They wanted schools to see mistakes as learning opportunities rather than reasons to be punished. They also wanted more leniency, as children who come into care may have come from a place where rules were too strict or non-existent.
They worked alongside professionals from fostering and youth hubs to design training to help cares negotiate better rules.