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. Essex children in care council were nominated for the ‘Voice award’
What?
The children in care council created a series of picture books. Young people got together in workshops to develop the main themes of the books and met the author in a series of online calls to share their own experiences.
Each book in the series focuses on a different subject, including coming into care, social work, grief, loss, reunification and adoption. The children in care council who created the picture books wanted to tell a story about feelings – to offer reassurance to children that they are not alone in their feelings & to give children permission to grieve for things or people they have lost or miss. The work was praised by the young people judges: “Such a warm & friendly way of discussing sometimes scary and uncomfortable topics.”
Impact
At the end of the story there is some reflection / prompt questions for foster carers to discuss with children to find out more about how they are feeling. The books has been endorsed by clinical psychologists who feel it gives children at opportunity to have conversations with their carers in their own time. The children in care council have been produced 5 picture books in total on different topics.