Partnerships with housing colleagues

Why?

Based on their YLBC findings Wandsworth recognised they faced a number of challenges to ensure care leavers had a home where they felt safe. The housing sector is complex with a wide range of partner agencies involved – so it was crucial to develop partnerships and to co-ordinate this work.

What?

+ The improvement in accommodation has been coordinated through the setting up of ‘Future House’ – a multiagency group including accommodation providers, the housing department, and young people.

+ Working with providers they have been able lower service charges, increase free access to Wi-Fi and improve living standards for care leavers. The Future First Champions (care experienced young people) have been involved in the
inspection of accommodation.

+ The monthly housing liaison panels considered all requests for social housing and rent deposits. Young people are encouraged to attend– this has helped young people to understand the decision making and ensure allocation of properties better meets young people’s needs.

+ Working with colleagues from children services colleagues have been able to support the production of an accommodation guide as well as the introduction of a rent deposit scheme.

Impact

Wandsworth have been able to make progress on a wide range of issues by developing strong working relationships with a range of partner agencies

The wellbeing of children in care and care leavers – learning from the Bright Spots Programme: Strategic Briefing

Julie Selwyn (Rees Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford), Linda Briheim-Crookall and Claire Baker (Coram Voice)

This briefing provides an overview of the key messages from the Bright Spots Programme. Although it is aimed at strategic leads and senior managers, the contents are of relevance to anyone working with children in care and care leavers. In telling the story of Bright Spots the briefing addresses two fundamental questions:

1. What makes life good for children in care and care leavers?
2. How can we make life better for children in care and care leavers?

The briefing provides key messages from the Bright Spots programme, practice examples and reflective questions to help strategic leads and practitioners think about how they might use the evidence and be involved in the programme in the future. Quotes from children and care leavers who took part in the Bright Spots surveys are included throughout the report.

Read this briefing which provides an overview of the key messages from the Bright Spots Programme (2022).

Read the strategic briefing:

Homework Club

Using the format of an after school homework club, the Children in Care Council (CiCC) were consulted to find out about young children’s worries concerning school.

Why?

Following school worries brought up from the Bright Spots survey, Bexley wanted to make sure the Children in Care Council (CiCC) were consulted. However, the CiCC struggled to keep their attendance up because of clashes with after school clubs.

What did they do?

The format of the CiCC was changed and built into an already existing homework club. The homework club included an optional home cooked dinner and a ‘bite size’ CiCC activity.

The CiCC activities used drama skills, role play, ‘hot-seating’ to help children explore their feelings through a fictional character (‘worry dragon’ – put your worries into his pouch). Charlie was one of the fictional characters used for children to project their feelings on to, characters were used so that children could imagine how fictional characters may feel and experience scenarios without personalising them.

One term, there was a focus on Charlie’s experience of school. What things could he be worried about? (e.g. relationships with teachers, Charlie excluded and going back to school, Charlie feeling bullied by a peer). Bexley asked the children: ‘What happened for Charlie?’, ‘How did this make him feel?’ ‘What could adults have done differently?’

Children really identified with practices that felt alienating and uncaring. The children and young people came up with character ‘Mr Trump’ who represented some of the uncaring behaviours. The other character developed was a class teacher who is more caring. They identified scenarios where they felt angry/excluded. When discussing bullying, they came up with ways that children could support each other.

The homework club caused the attendance of CiCC to almost double and children were able to speak about their feelings more comfortably through depersonalisation. The homework club facilitated a link between the existing group of young people in care and the participation service and managers. This allowed for more frequent bitesize dialogue, frequent discussions and feedback being shared through the Participation Leader with the wider service.

What difference is it making?

Children and young people’s feedback was shared more regularly and widely as a result with managers in social care, Councillors and other professionals such as schools and foster carers etc.

Place and purpose – what matters to care leavers

Coram Voice have partnered with The National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF), to produce some video resources that help local authorities who are interested in developing their care leaver services.

 

 

In this video (16 minutes), Dr. Claire Baker shares key findings from the Bright Spots Programme, Your Life Beyond Care survey – which has so far heard from over 7,000 care leavers from 40+ local authorities across the UK.

The video was originally shown at the NLCBF practitioner and manager’s event – a members only event – but we are now pleased to offer the resource for free use.

Place and Purpose image 2

Accompanying the video is a reflection sheet (download available in the yellow box) which can be used to facilitate discussion in a team meeting. The question is: What can you or your team do in response to how care leavers are feeling?

Place and Purpose image 3

 

Place and Purpose image

Feeling supported with accommodation

Close working links between Oldham’s leaving care service and housing agencies means more care leavers in Oldham feel safe and settled in their homes.

Why?

Joined up working agreements between housing and leaving care mean that care leavers are well supported in their accommodation.

What?

Oldham have developed a Protocol between housing and their leaving care service with commitments to:

    • Joint working between leaving care and the housing department starts at 17 years and 6 months to allow time for individual planning to meet young people’s needs.
    • Multi-agency discussions to avoid early risks of homelessness.
    • Involvement of the voluntary sector to support prevention plans through the Young Futures group.
    • Additional support to care leavers with complex needs from Housing First – A Greater Manchester wide resource.
    • A clear pledge from corporate leaders that no young person will be made homeless.
Impact

Your Life your care survey findings

    • 75% of care leavers in Oldham reported feeling safe where they lived and 61% always felt settled compared to 64% and 51% of care leavers nationally.

Good working relationships between managers

    • The protocol provides a basis for regular meeting between housing and leaving care managers and a strong emphasis on findings solutions to the issues young people are facing

Acting when young people say they don’t feel safe

    • When young people have reported that they do not feel safe in commissioned accommodation, action has been taken to review the contract and where necessary change providers.

“Neighbours are very friendly and everyone knows everyone. It’s a nice area to live in and a nice home.”

Care leaver

“The central principle of Corporate Parenting is that all elected members, Council employees, service area departments and directorates should consider children in care as if they were their own children and seek to provide only the quality of care which would be considered good enough for their own children.”

Oldham Joint Protocol