16 Oct 23
Dorset Council recently shared their experience of taking part in the Bright Spots Programme, with some interesting results. After running the Your Life, Your Care survey for their children in care aged 4-17 years old, the local authority discovered that the majority of their care-experienced children felt that their life had got better since coming into care.
Their Bright Spots report set out six factors associated with well-being: trusted and available social workers, having good friends, liking school, seeing siblings as often as they want, feeling safe and settled, having trusted and sensitive carers.
- For all children and young people having good friends and trusting and supportive relationships were really important. This included trusted carers and social workers.
- Liking school influenced well-being for all age groups and feeling safe where they lived and settled was also important for children in care whether they were aged 4 or 17.
These and other findings are available to read in the full article here.
“Dorset Council gathers information all the time about the well-being of our children in care, but this survey is different because it asks the children themselves and gives us a good view of whether they feel safe, happy and content.” Councillor Byron Quayle, portfolio holder for children, education, skills and early help, Dorset Council
The Bright Spots Programme has helped 80 local authorities from across the UK to hear from over 24,000 care-experienced children and young people. If you would like to become a Bright Spots Partner or to find out more, contact the team on brightspots@coramvoice.org.uk