Agenda item

Bradley then informed the Board on what LINX had been doing since the last Corporate Parenting Board meeting.

The powerpoint that Bradley designed is attached detailing all LINX' activities.

Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)

Feedback on exciting work that the CRAE had been doing was given by William who has been part of the steering group called See it, Say it, Change it, since January 2015.  Mark from the LINX group is also a member.

Last year they carried out research and worked on writing a report about how children's rights are not being respected in the UK.  They covered issues such as standard of living, children in care, health and education.  In October, they went to the United Nations in Geneva to present the report to the Committee on the rights of the child.  Since then they have met with Edward Timpson, MP twice to discuss the recommendations which have made and has agreed to meet with the group twice a year.

This year they have been on two residentials.  On the last one, they all voted on a particular issue to focus their campaign work on.  They decided that the issue would be housing, as many children and families are being housed in poor and overcrowded accommodation.  They will continue to meet up regularly to work on this issue ad they are also going to be looking for ten more young people to join the group.

North West Regional Children in Care Conference

Charlotte informed the Board about the North West Regional Children in Care Conference which took place at County Hall in Preston on Saturday, 2 July 2016.

There were approximately sixty children and young people aged from 10 to 23 years.

They covered Children in Care Councils from Blackburn and Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cumbria, Halton, Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wirral, and Wigan.

There were four workshops running on the day.

1.  The Children’s Commissioners’ workshop called share and learn was to explore and draw out from the children and young people the questions that they hoped the Children in Care Council website page would address.

2.  Lancashire ran a workshop explaining their campaign work around raising awareness of the pupil premium plus grants.

3.  Trafford ran a workshop around the use of technology and social media.

4.  Youth Focus North West ran a workshop around entitlements for care leavers.

The main themes that emerged from the children and young people were:

1.  Wanting to know their rights and what they are entitled to at a national, local and individual level.

2.  Better communication on their individual cases.

3.  Understanding the care system as well as jargon and the language that can be used by professionals.

This was the first regional conference that the Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield had attended.  She stayed all day to answer individual questions and inform young people about her plans to help support Looked After Children and Care Leavers.  She was interested in knowing the answers to the following questions:

a)  What is the best thing about being part of a children in care council?

b)   Why is it important to listen to children in care?

c)  What do you think about getting together today?

Answers included:

"Being part of a Children in Care Council gives me a voice to improve my own life and other children and young people’s".

"I enjoy getting together with other children and young people in similar circumstances".

"It’s important to listen to children in care because we are the experts in our own right as we experience what it is like every day".

"We feel more in control of own lives when listened to".

"Being part of a Children inCare Council helps to create a sense of citizenship and being part of a community.  It feels good to be able to make things better for others in similar situations".

All the feedback from the day was very positive.  The children and young people particularly liked hearing from each other and taking ideas back to their own Children in Care Councils.

The next North West Regional Children in Care Council is taking place in Knowsley in November.  LINX are meeting up with Knowsley’s Children in Care Council on the 18 August 2016 to help to plan this conference.