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) – Worcestershire’s Children in Care Council and Care Leaver’s Forum were nominated for the ‘Collaboration award’.
What?
Worcestershire’s Who Cares We Care Group Child In Care Council and Action Speak Group Care Leavers Council members worked together with care-experienced young people from across the West Midlands Region to coproduce their training called “Putting Participation on the Map”. Their training was delivered for the first time at the Principal Social Worker Regional Network Annual Conference in June 2024.
The idea was first born as part of discussions within the West Midland’s participation leads network meeting back in October 2023. Young people were consulted and produced a plan to create a training package for all 14 West Midlands Local Authorities to use. They volunteered their time and got together to create their training.
What difference did it make?
The care-experienced trainers gave varied feedback including the below:
What did you like best about the training? “That hopefully our voices were heard.”
How did you feel it went? “Feels like it went the way that it should have gone.”
What would you like the training to achieve? “Well, that it would support other care-experienced young people/ care leavers with next steps for more support. I enjoyed coming and the dedication of people who were there actually to contribute and listen and take back from what they’ve learnt. I feel as though there could be a gap in between sessions so that we can gather thoughts/ feedback and less people doing the training as well and I feel if people actually listened and changed then yes it could help people.”
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