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) – Peterborough’s Children in Care Council and Young Inspectors group were nominated for the ‘Collaboration award’.
What?
The Peterborough Children in Care Council (ages 12 to 17 years) previously created the Promise to Children in Care that they wanted anyone working with Children in Care to follow. To measure the impact of the Promise, they recently worked with the Young Inspectors group to arrange focus groups with staff and created a survey for Children in Care to provide feedback on the Promise.
Children and young people interviewed social workers, team managers, IROs, senior managers, QA officers, health representatives, the Children’s Services Director and the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Committee to discuss the Promise. They used this feedback along with their own reflections to create posters and a training booklet for corporate parents, as well as a welcome booklet that children will receive in their coming into care pack about the Promise.
What difference did it make?
This project has brought the Promise to Children in Care to the forefront. Staff are thinking more about how to meet the Promise, and the service and Children in Care Council are receiving regular feedback from Children in Care about how they feel the Promise is being met via the online survey.
So far 77 children have completed the online survey the Children in Care Council put into place with the Participation Team. Messages from the feedback are shared with the service by the Children in Care Council, who also make suggestions on what could be improved on specific promises.
The booklet developed by the young people will be used in staff inductions and in training sessions for corporate parents including councillors who are on the Corporate Parenting Committee.
The posters featuring quotes from different staff who were interviewed by young people, and reflections from the Children in Care Council have been made into a booklet that will go into the Coming into Care Packs, to let Children in Care know how they will be looked after by their corporate parents.
After completing the project, the young people said they felt reassured that staff at all levels are invested in the Promise and make sure it’s being met: “It makes me feel safe”. Staff have said how powerful it was to discuss the Promise with young people and that it helped them improve their work.