Warwickshire News Mine

Through the Children in Care Council, children and young people in care will have a direct say in the development of services that they use.

The next full meeting of the Children in Care Council is planned for May 26. It will act as an overview and scrutiny committee for all children in care and leaving care and will help to shape the county council policy for the future.

The launch in Shire Hall, Warwick, was attended by Warwickshire County Council Chief Executive Jim Graham and Children, Young People and Families Director Marion Davis. It was compered by Dreadlockalien – also known as poet Richard Grant – and featured graffiti artist Richard Inwood, who helped the young people create a giant mural of the Children in Care Council logo.

Dreadlockalien inspired the young people to compose poems about the Warwickshire Pledge which they later read out to guests while Richard Inwood worked with them on the graffiti structure and audio visual expert Alex Woolner helped them film and interview people for a DVD of the event.

The Warwickshire members of the Children in Care Council are: Shareen Callen (from Warwick), Scott Patterson (Bedworth), Daniel Cherrie (Atherstone), Ahmed Yusuf (Warwick), Lewis Erskine (Atherstone), Jamie Louis (Coventry) and Jamie Anderson (Stratford). The council has several adult members including Marion Davis, councillors and officers.

This initiative is a response to the Government White Paper called Care Matters – Time for Change, which issued a number of recommendations to local authorities to address the gaps that exist between the quality of lives of children and young people in care and those who are not.

Last year the Warwickshire Pledge was presented to the council’s Cabinet.
The pledge includes a series of measures designed to improve the lives of young people, including giving them more choices and involvement in the decisions affecting their futures and access to out-of-hours help from social care staff.

Marion Davis, Warwickshire County Council’s Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, said: “It is a priority in Warwickshire to improve the outcomes for all children and young people in care through giving our commitment to them and by putting procedures in place to ensure their voices are heard.

“Over the past year we have listened first hand to the views of children and young people in care and we now need to encourage them to take forward their views through the Children in Care Council.”

Link to WCC