Theme: Regulation 44
Minutes:
The young people of the Children in Care Council referred to the joint meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel and the Children in Care Council which was held on 20 March and they informed the Panel of some of the issues discussed at that meeting including the following:
·
Foster Carers
The young people discussed how important it is to be provided with information about foster carers, prior to moving to a placement, as this makes the process less daunting. They also discussed some of the concerns they had regarding inconsistencies with boundaries, including the use of social media and mobile phones.
· Corporate Parent Profiles
The young people asked for the information displayed in the residential settings, about their Corporate Parents, to be more interesting and personal.
· Risk Assessments
Young people raised concerns that information being provided about them to potential foster carers, in advance of placements, can sometimes be very negative. Work has taken place to adapt the form so that it is more balanced, however, further work is required.
· Freedom Cards
Young people are concerned that the freedom card offer is lacking. Investing in Children agreed to look into what other local authorities offer, and further work will take place to consider how the Freedom Card can be improved.
· Relationships with Foster Carer’s Social Worker
Young people suggested it would be beneficial for them to have meetings with the Foster Carer’s Social Workers to enable them to share their thoughts on the placement, and feed into the foster carer annual reviews.
It was agreed that work will take place outside of the meeting to address issues raised. The young people were thanked for their input and it was agreed that this had been a very useful exercise, which should be repeated twice per year, following the joint CPP/CICC meetings.