Corporate Parenting Strategy 2020 to 2023

Pinaki Ghoshai, Executive Director Families, Children & Learning

I and other senior officers across the council act as corporate parents to around 385 children and young people at any one time.

It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously.

I’m proud to have the chance to have a positive impact on the lives of so many young people who may have previously experienced loss and trauma.

We must all make sure that the children we're caring for now – and who we have previously cared for – get the best experiences in life.

This means doing everything we can to help our children in care and care leavers have high aspirations and achieve their potential.

We're committed to:

• delivering excellent parenting and stable placements
• providing access to educational achievement
• offering a wide range of opportunities to develop talents and skills
• supporting your health and emotional well-being

We want to reach for the stars for our children and young people. We'll listen to their wishes and feelings and work with them to achieve their goals and hopes.

Councillor John Allcock (Chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee)

As corporate parents, we want to deliver the best possible outcomes for the children in our care.

We'll work with partners such as our housing services, our schools and the local NHS to deliver the best possible services for our children in care.

I believe we have a solemn duty to be the best corporate parents we can be to everyone in our care, and we promise to act as responsible parents.

When providing a service for you we'll always ask ourselves the following question: “Would this be good enough for my own child?”.

This strategy outlines our vision, principles, achievements and key priorities for supporting the children and young people who are looked after by the council.

A message from our Children in Care Council (CiCC)

Dear councillors and Corporate Parenting Board members,

These are some of the most important things we think a parent should be:

• responsible
• protective
• loving and kind
• honest
• patient

We would like you to:

• stay connected to us, take an interest in us and get to know us
• share our successes
• support us when times are tough

The following are messages from members of the CiCC to their corporate parents:

• we would like the chance to shadow some of you in your everyday jobs, could you give us a short profile of yourself and what you do, so that we can see if we might be interested in coming to work with you for a day, please?
• we would like you to stay connected to us
• we would like the opportunity to share our successes with you and to be supported when times are tough
• love us like your own
• keep asking yourself, “Is this good enough for your own child?”

Our vision is to be the best corporate parents we can be for our children and young people.

The key message we hear from our children in care is: “Love us like your family. Love us like your own”. As professionals, we may sometimes feel uncomfortable responding to this wish, but we're committed to honouring it.

Our vision is to be:

• loving
• accepting
• caring
• honest
• reliable
• consistent
• concerned on a human level with the children and young people we look after

We will:

• show these qualities in our day-to-day relationship-based practice
• always work within safe professional boundaries
• work tirelessly to ensure that our children and young people feel safe and secure, and have stability in their lives
• help them achieve their full potential by supporting them in fulfilling their ambitions and aspirations

As of January 2020, we're corporate parents to:

• 343 children in care
• 42 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
• 163 care leavers

Your Choice Your Voice: Young Ambassadors

Young Ambassadors are young people who have had the experience of having social work support.

They are trained and supported to work with council teams to help them recruit and train staff.

Young Ambassador training is available to all young people aged 13 to 25 who have experience of being in care. Young Ambassadors are paid for their time and can gain qualifications through an accreditation scheme.

The Children in Care and Care Leavers Awards

This annual celebration recognises the personal achievements of children and young people who are in care or have been in care in Brighton & Hove.

It's designed to recognise how award winners have made a difference in their own or someone else’s life.

The theme for the 2019 event was ‘Reach for the Stars’. This was to show that there's no limit to how high people can aim or how far their success can soar.

Me, Myself and Us

This project used creative writing and hip-hop to engage children and young people in poetry, graphic stories, storytelling and songwriting.

It enabled them to:

• feel the power of creativity
• develop their literacy skills
• build their enthusiasm for writing and performing

The children and young people investigated their identities both as individuals and as a group – hence the title ‘Me, Myself and Us’.

Higher Education Student Mentors

Higher Education Student Mentors are care leavers who have graduated from university or who are still at university.

They can offer advice and information about:

• the process of applying for university
• the different educational paths young people can take to get to university
• the financial support available to care leavers, when they go to university

The Brighton & Hove Contact Service

The Brighton & Hove Contact Service provides a safe supervised setting for children to spend time with the parent they do not live with.

Our focus is on safeguarding and supporting children and their parents to spend quality time together in a way that promotes positive experiences in the parent-child relationship.

Our vision is to:

• keep families connected
• help families enjoy spending time together
• build better family relationships for the future

Providing a home where you feel safe and secure

We will:

• provide a home where you feel safe and secure
• make sure that your carer is trained and supported to care for you

Watch our short film below which gives views on what makes a good foster carer.

Beyond, the Care Leavers' Trust

We've supported local councillors to develop Beyond, the Care Leavers’ Trust. This was launched in April 2019 to support young people when they leave care and increase the opportunities available to them.

It brings together charitable donations from a range of individuals and businesses. All young people leaving care will be able to apply to the fund. Any money awarded will be in addition to the money and grants that already exist for care leavers.

Our 10 promises for children in care were created together by the Children in Care Council and by children and young people attending the ‘Reach for the Stars’ consultation event in October 2019.

They worked with staff from our families, children and learning team to agree on 10 promises saying how our staff will work with our children in care.

The 10 promises are that we will:

1. Always involve you in decisions made about you.
2. Provide a home where you feel safe and secure and support you if you return to your family or move to another home.
3. Help you to keep in regular contact with family and friends if it's in your best interest and is what you want to do.
4. Make sure that your carers are trained and supported to care for you.
5. Support you to get the most from your education and help you to achieve the best you can.
6. Support and engage you to take up and develop your own interests, hobbies and activities.
7. Help you to achieve your aspirations and dreams.
8. Respect you and help you develop a strong sense of personal identity and maintain your cultural and religious beliefs.
9. Help you to have the same social worker for a long time.
10. Support you to be as physically and emotionally healthy as you can be.

We've taken advice from some of our care leavers in order to develop a package of support and services for young people leaving care in Brighton & Hove. This is called our Local Offer.

Through our Local Offer, we're committed to working with young people to help them:

• develop healthy and safe relationships
• promote physical and emotional health and well-being
• access education, training and employment opportunities
• have financial support and security
• have access to high-quality supported accommodation
• prepare for independent living and support them into their own tenancy

We'll continue to consult with young people in care and care leavers so that we can provide the service you need and will need in future.

We've made considerable progress in the last 3 years. We're committed to building on this and continuing to ask the question: “Is this good enough for my child?”.

Our objectives

We've listened to children and young people and we've produced 4 key strategic objectives that will improve the support we provide to them in the future. These are:

1. To ensure that children and young people are consulted and actively participate in the decisions we make about how we deliver our services.
2. To ensure children and young people receive a good education and achieve the best educational outcomes.
3. To provide good opportunities for children in care and care leavers to maintain and improve emotional health and well-being.
4. To ensure that the role of the corporate parent is promoted across the council and among partners.

How we'll achieve our objectives

The Corporate Parenting Board

The Corporate Parenting Board is made up of:

• a cross-party group of councillors supported by the executive director for families, children and learning
• other Families, Children and Learning staff
• representatives of our partner agencies

The Corporate Parenting Board is responsible for ensuring that the council acts as good corporate parents and fulfils its duties corporately and in partnership with other statutory agencies.

We expect all corporate parents to know and understand the diverse needs of our children in care and care leavers.

The Children in Care Council (CiCC)

This is a group of young people aged 13 to 25 who have all experienced being in care.

The group meets one Saturday per month. It’s a great opportunity for children and young people to:

• be part of a group
• share their experiences
• influence decisions that are being made about children’s social work

Current members enjoy shared activities including table tennis, pool, cooking, arts and crafts and hanging out together.

Sometimes the group invites corporate parents to come and meet them and hear their views. Representatives from the Children in Care Council attend and feedback to the Corporate Parenting Board.

Brighton & Hove Fostering Service

Find out more about the Brighton & Hove Fostering Service.

Virtual school

Find out more about our Virtual school for children in care and previously in care.

Sussex CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services)

Find out more about Sussex CAMHS.

Youth Advocacy Project

To contact the Youth Advocacy Project:

• send an email to help@bhyap.org.uk
• phone 0800 0524 280 (free from a landline)
• text or phone 07812 356 994

Brighton & Hove Children in Care Council

To contact the Brighton & Hove Children in Care Council send an email to youth@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Brighton & Hove Children in Care Health Team

To contact the Brighton & Hove Children in Care Health Team:

• send an email to SC-TR.BandHLAC@nhs.net
• phone 01273 696 011 (extension x1039)