Children in Care and Care Leavers Councils offer care experienced Young People the chance to meet with peers who can relate to your experiences and the opportunity to influence decisions made by Social Care professionals. We are both senior volunteers at our Local Authorities’ Children in Care Council as well as being members of our Care Leavers Council.
We both feel very proud to have taken part in some fantastic projects with the councils in our local authority, including achieving Council Tax exemption for all Care Leavers up to the age of 25. The opportunity of being part of the councils has offered us both different things on a personal level too.
Rhianna
Before joining either council, I always felt very opinionated about the care I’d received and wanted to use my experiences in a positive way, but I was hugely lacking in confidence. It was actually my Independent Reviewing Officer who suggested that I attend one meeting, and her belief in me is what encouraged me to go and led to the involvement I still have today. Just being around other people who knew the care system -in an environment where social worker and Foster Carer weren’t words that shocked people and overshadowed everything else- made me feel less isolated. For the first time in a long time I didn’t feel like the odd one out, in this place I was the same as everybody else. From doing this I’ve made some amazing friends, and a best friend in Emily. I’ve found people that understand me on a level others’ can’t, because you can never truly understand something unless you’ve lived it yourself.
The confidence that I have gained by going to the councils has really changed my life. I’ve gone from being a person afraid to speak to anybody, putting up with whatever came my way for a quiet life, to somebody who will not only stand up for myself, but for anybody else who needs me to and for everything I believe to be right. I haven’t quite mastered doing so diplomatically a lot of the time, as I’m often reminded, but that’s a work in progress as things often are! My experiences of the system weren’t always positive, but this has been an opportunity to work at changing some of what didn’t work for me so other Young People that come after me don’t have to go through what I did. That is something I am immensely proud of, and it keeps me going when things get tough. From being on the councils, I have had the opportunity to sit on Interview Panels, commissioning panels, attend spotlight enquiries and act as a voice for all Children in Care and Care Leavers from my Local Authority in a wide variety of contexts. For me this feels like making a genuine difference to the lives of others and using what was bad for as a force for good, and that feeling is priceless. I feel very lucky, and a sense of privilege, to have been given different platforms to make myself heard, so all the while I have the chance to do this I will stand up for every Child in Care and Care Leaver to make the journey through the Care System a tiny bit easier in whatever way I possibly can.
Emily
Attending my local authorities care leavers council has been a way for me to meet other care experiences young people, and share our experiences, both positives and negatives, and also have the opportunities to make change in areas we felt needed it. The experience of attending the councils has been amazing, not only because we are making changes that we can see happening, but because I have made friends with some amazing people, and found a best friend in Rhianna. It makes me feel included to be in a room full of people who understand my experiences, and actually share many similar experiences. It is a great feeling to know that we have a voice and that our voice is being heard by those we need to hear it. Through the councils we have been given opportunities to sit on interview panels, attend conferences and help to facilitate Big Conversations, where we can directly question our strategic leads and hear about the changes we have helped to make. Knowing that my involvement in the councils will have a direct positive impact on other children and young people who are in the position I was in. My participation in the councils has enabled me to improve on a personal level too, before my attendance I wasn’t confident, I had all these ideas but didn’t believe that they carried any merit. When I first joined the Care Leaver Council I didn’t have much trust in professionals, but it has allowed me to meet professionals who really do have our best interests at heart, who really care and encourage us to speak up and put our ideas forward. To share what changes we feel are needed to improve service for future care experienced children and young people.
For both of us, the councils have opened up new opportunities, and they can for you too.
If what we have written about today has inspired you in any way. Check with your local authority to see if and how you can get involved with your Children in Care or Care Leaver Council.
Care experienced people get care experienced people. Let’s be a force for good. Let’s make a change.
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