Children and young people in care

The ‘Get LOUD’ Participation Team offers a range of opportunities and activities for Children and Young People in North Lincolnshire. The focus is to build confidence and self-esteem and empower and support young people to share their experiences of care to ensure quality, consistency, and good practice.

Our ‘GET LOUD’ Groups:

The groups come together monthly to share views and experiences. The aim is to help us to continually reflect and gain their feedback on what’s going well and what’s not going so well in their lives to enable us to continue to reshape services.

The Children in Care Council

This is an overarching group of young people that oversee all activity and all groups and represent and report to senior managers on a regular basis. They also feedback to the other larger groups.

‘We Say It’s OK!’

If a service has a document, they would like us to look at and decide if its ok or not for children and young people it needs to be through the ‘We Say It’s OK’ process.

Voice and Participation Group

The aim of the Voice and Participation Groups is to discuss important issues for young people in care in a fun and creative way. If you would like to meet other young people and make a difference by sharing your views and ideas, then this is the group for you! We have two groups; under 12’s and over 12’s

Young People Interactive Interview Panel

When North Lincolnshire Council is hiring staff to work with children and young people, it’s important that young people are involved. Your experience of for example having your own social worker, is invaluable to help make sure the right person gets the job!

Basically, we get asked to create our own questions and do some fun tasks too, we do it together in a supportive little team, so don’t worry you wouldn’t be on your own! This is good for your CV and will also help to boost your confidence and experience. Plus, you’ll get a GIFT VOUCHER for helping.

After all the interviews have taken place, the professionals who are also interviewing will listen to your feedback and a decision will be made on who will be offered the job. We like to say our involvement should be at least 20% of the overall score.

Before taking part in the interview panels, you’ll be given training and support from The Participation Team.

Want to get involved?
Contact us by:
Email: participationteam@northlincs.gov.uk
Call: 01724 298277 or speak to your social worker, carer or PA

BEE-YOURSELF GROUP

It’s nice to BEE-YOURSELF outside of the meetings and have fun and socialise together. Members of this groups help decide what we do, and in the past, we have done things like creating Poems/Music, Cooking Classes, Residential Trips, Our Annual Celebratory Show at The Baths Hall and many more.

Listen & Learn

This group is for any young person aged 16 and above who have care experience. The aim of the group is to provide a safe space to have some fun and to share experiences, this is so valuable because it can help improve services for ALL young people. We would love to hear from you.

Why get involved?

Whether you live with a foster carer, in a residential home or whether you live in or outside the North Lincolnshire area, your ideas can make a big difference.

Taking part in our GET LOUD Groups may help you gain new skills, meet new friends, and make a difference for children in care and care leavers. You can also help to shape and reshape the services that you access.

Contact us by:
Email: participationteam@northlincs.gov.uk
Call: 01724 298277 or speak to your social worker, carer or PA

What if I am not ready to join the groups?

We understand that not everybody wants to take part all the time… and that is OK. If you don’t want to join or attend our group’s you can still have your say by speaking to the Advocacy Team.

Email: myvoicematters@northlincs.gov.uk
Advocacy Team: 01724 298505

All schools have a designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children on the school roll.

Virtual school heads are in charge of promoting the educational achievement of all the children looked after by the council.

There is additional funding to support children who are looked after. It is called Pupil Premium Plus. The school can access this funding directly.

A child in care is looked after by the council until they are 18. We continue to provide advice, guidance and assistance and a Personal Adviser for all care leavers until they are 21 (up to 25 if they wish).

Care leavers can ask for support from a Personal Adviser at any time they would like some help up to the age of 25 (whether they are in education or training or not).

Further information on support for care leavers is available on Gov.UK.

Our local offer to care leavers

The local offer to care leavers [PDF, 1.3Mb] explains what is available for care leavers. We know that it’s a big step to move to living on your own. We want to make sure that you know where and who to go to for advice and help.

Our care leavers helped us design and write this local offer. We will continue to listen to your views to make sure the services we offer are what you need. If there is anything in the document you are not sure about or need further information about, please ask your worker.

A children and young people’s version of the local offer to  care leavers [PDF, 561Kb] is also available.

The multi agency children in care and care leavers plan

The multi-agency children in care and care leavers plan  is for all council staff and partner agencies. It supports the delivery of effective services to children in care and care leavers.

The children and young people’s advocate supports:

• children and young people who are in care
• care leavers
• any child or young person receiving support from children’s services

The advocate is independent and will work with you to help get your point of view across. If you need someone to listen to your worries or help you get the support you need please contact the advocate on 01724 298505 or email MyVoiceMatters@northlincs.gov.uk.

The supported lodgings scheme aims to provide placements for vulnerable young people who are either:

• leaving the care of the local authority or
• are not able to live within their family

For more information please visit our supported lodgings information on the fostering page.

The council is the corporate parent for children in care. We provide the support and guidance that would normally be provided by parents. Advice and guidance is also offered for children who have left our care.

We are ambitious for children in care and we expect their outcomes to be every bit as good as their peers, and better. As corporate parents, we demand from ourselves and our partners that our children in care and care leavers:

• feel safe and are safe
• enjoy good health and emotional wellbeing
• recognise and achieve their potential

Corporate Parenting Promise

North Lincolnshire Corporate Parenting Promise to Children in Care and Care Leavers 2021

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 sets out the following Corporate Parenting Principles:

• act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and well-being, of children in care and care leavers;
• encourage them to express their views, wishes and feelings;
• take into account their views, wishes and feelings;
• help children in care and care leavers gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its
• relevant partners;
• promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes for them;
• for children in care and care leavers to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work;
• prepare children in care and care leavers for adulthood and independent living.

As Corporate Parents for Children in Care and Care Leavers in North Lincolnshire, we promise that to do this we will:

• Ask your views, listen to what you say and act on it
• Support you and give you the information you need to lead a healthy lifestyle
• Support you to feel safe
• Support you to have contact with your family and friends
• Make sure services and support are available to help you to be the best you can be
• Have ambitions for you and support you to reach your goals
• Have high expectations of you and expect you to act sensibly, but also take into account what is going on in your
  life at the time
• Support you to get the education and training you need and help you develop your skills and achieve your goals in life
• Work with you to support other children and young people who may have had similar experiences
• Offer training and work experience and support you to find employment
• Support you and your children while you gain life experience and become independent from us
• Offer an open door for support and advice, whatever your age
• Celebrate your successes and achievements
• Help you be involved in your community.

As corporate parents, we will listen to the wishes and feelings of every child and young person in our care.

Children in care can get involved with the children in care council and ensure their voices are heard. They can have a say in the issues that affect their lives.

Over the last seven years, the children in care council has been fully involved in reviewing services. It meets regularly with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, the Director of Children and Community Resilience, independent reviewing officers and senior officers from across the council and its partners. The children in care council has been consulted on, been involved with, or given feedback on a number of issues.

If you want to know more about the children in care council or would like to join, your worker will be able to tell you more.

Children’s homes provide a homely and caring environment for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.

Care within a children’s home is for planned periods. In some cases, young people may stay in the home until they move into independence. We do not advertise the location of these homes to protect the young people who live there. If you wish to make any enquiries about them please contact us.

Ofsted has judged children in care, services to care leavers, and fostering and adoption to be outstanding.

Young people have benefited from:

• opportunities in gaining employment (work opportunities within the council)
• additional help with their education reflected in their educational attainment
• living in safe, stable family placements
• the opportunity to contribute to the development and delivery of services.

The Children in Care and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy explains how we secure sufficient accommodation for children and young people in care and care leavers.

The Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan sets out our key priorities for children in care.

It builds on our successes and sets out an ambitious agenda for further improvement. Our ambition applies to all children in care who are the responsibility of North Lincolnshire Council, wherever they are living. This plan also recognises the responsibilities of the council and its partners to children in care from outside North Lincolnshire.