Agenda item

The Panel received a presentation from Caitlyn of the Children in Care Council (CiCC) on activity during May (for copy of presentation see file of minutes).

Within the presentation, Caitlyn highlighted that a member of the CiCC was shortlisted for the CORAM Voices Creative Writing Competition and a link was provided for Members to view further details.  Also during May, the young people hosted their own Care Day which was a great success, promoting positivity and providing the opportunity for the young people to showcase their poems, art and photography.

Caitlyn reported that the Artstops project is continuing and an increasing number of young people are joining the project.  Members praised the work of the young people and expressed interest in purchasing prints.  The Project Manager for Investing in Children replied that consideration is being given to making digital prints available and to exhibiting the work in the future.  Members expressed support for exhibiting the work and a suggestion was made that prints could be displayed in community health centres and rehabilitation centres, to inspire and encourage others. The Head of the Virtual School suggested the designs could be made into postcards, to be used by practitioners when sending ‘thank you’ or ‘good luck’ cards and it was suggested that the Project Manager for Investing in Children could look to progress this.

Another event that took place during May was a meeting with Ofsted inspectors facilitated by the young people, at which they shared details of the work they have undertaken with Durham County Council.  Caitlyn spoke of how much the young people enjoyed the meeting and how they are looking forward to receiving feedback from Ofsted in July.  

The young people also met with Corporate Parenting Panel representatives to discuss future actions and they discussed how important it is that they are familiar with the workers in their circle of care.  The young people had developed aids such as ‘One of Me’ and ‘Top Trumps’, to share information about their likes and dislikes, hobbies etc with their carers, in order to get to know each other better.  The Service Manager for Children and Young People commented on the consideration being given to the recruitment of children’s home staff and how this could be more home-specific and how the young people resident in children’s homes could become more involved in recruitment processes for the staff in their homes.