The Pledge to Children Looked After

The pledge is for all children and young people in care.

It is about the things that should happen to make sure you are safe, settled and happy with the way you are cared for. It is based on what children and young people said was most important to them.

It includes information about what you can do if you feel any of the things in the pledge are not happening for you.

Hertfordshire Children’s Trust Partnership Pledge to Children and Young People who are Looked After

This is our pledge to you.

The pledge is for all children and young people who are looked after by Hertfordshire County Council Children Schools and Families. It is about the things you can expect from us, which we will do our best to make sure happen. You also have a role to play. As you grow and mature your responsibilities for these pledge issues will grow too.

The pledge is based on what children who are looked after by Hertfordshire Children Schools and Families said was most important to them (it does not cover everything that you are entitled to).

Before your review meeting we will ask you about the issues in this pledge so that your views can be heard.

The pledge should:
• Help you and all the people who help look after you to agree the right plan for you
• Help improve services for all children who are looked after by Hertfordshire Children Schools and Families
• Inform you of your rights and opportunities, and point you to other information (keep reading to find out more)

The Pledge

Protecting you and keeping you safe and settled
Your safety and wellbeing come first. Whatever decisions are being made about you or any part of your life, we will work with you to keep you safe and settled.

You should not have to experience bullying wherever you are (at school, at your home, or anywhere else). Please do tell your carer or social care worker if you are being bullied so that we can take action together.

‘Bullying is mental as well as physical so being able to talk to someone about it is important’.

Confidentiality
Unless there is a risk of harm, information relating to you and your care plan will only be shared with other members of staff who need to know it. We will always try to let you know who we share information with.

Taking part in decisions about you
We will talk to you when making decisions about you and listen to your views, wishes and feelings. How much of a say you have in decisions will depend on your age, maturity and your safety.

In particular we will listen to you about:
• Your care plan
• The best place for you to live to meet your needs
• School or college and any changes to them
• Keeping in regular contact with your family

We will try to make your review as easy as possible for you to take part in.

We will explain all decisions which are taken about you in a way which you understand

Keeping in contact with family and friends
We will work with you to keep you in touch with your family and friends unless it is not safe for you to do so.
• Wherever possible, we will keep you together with your brothers and sisters when you come into care.
• If you are invited to a sleepover at a friend’s house: - If it is a ’one off’ sleepover your carer and social worker will normally be able to agree to this (as long as it is safe) - To be able to sleepover at a friends more regularly your social worker will need to make sure this is safe for you and will make appropriate checks and enquiries including CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks.
• If a sleepover is not allowed the reasons for this will be clearly explained to you.

‘It is important to explain things to me and not to make decisions without me knowing about it’.

‘Information should always be safe and private’.

‘You wouldn’t want someone looking at your stuff’.

Personal identity
• We will help you to keep a record of important events, achievements and people in your life
• If you need your birth certificate or passport we will work with you and your parents where needed to obtain them (if you are an unaccompanied minor please see below )

Your social care worker and you
We will make sure you have a social care worker.
• Your social care worker will do their best to spend time with you to get to know you

Taking part in things you want to do
We will support and encourage you to take part in:
• Sports, hobbies and leisure activities (as far as possible)
• Religious activities where that is your choice

Transition to adulthood
To help you move into adulthood we will do our best to:

‘Family is the most important thing ever’.

‘I love to know that I belong to somebody’.

‘ Don’t even get me started on contact because there are just so many people in our family we don’t get to see and it just isn’t right’.

‘It’s important to have all these things because we don’t have our family around us to do this’.

‘I like to do sports, it helps me chill and think’.

‘I know my social worker really well, she has been my social worker for a long time. It’s good having the same social worker all the time because it is easier to talk to her’.

Make sure you have a pathway plan

• Ensure that you have a passport, birth certificate and national insurance number (if you are an unaccompanied minor please see the note below)
• Support you to register on a borough/district housing waiting list
• Provide you with advice, information and support about a range of issues including accommodation that meets your needs
• Involve you in making decisions about transition to adulthood
• Provide opportunities for you to take part in activities that prepare you for independence

Unaccompanied minors
If you are an unaccompanied minor you may not be eligible for some of these documents due to immigration issues. If this is the case we will help you to understand why these restrictions are in place.

We will make sure your views about care are listened to
There are lots of different consultations taking place as part of the Children in Care ‘Council’. The ‘council’ will meet regularly with the Lead Member for Children’s Services to:
• Monitor how well the pledge is being upheld
• Help with training and recruiting staff

The Lead Member for Children’s Services is an elected county councillor. Their role includes making sure that the views of children and young people are listened to.

You can also email councilforchildrenincare@hertscc.gov.uk.

What to do if you feel your rights in this pledge have not been upheld
All staff who help look after children in Hertfordshire will always do their best to uphold this pledge and all of your rights.

‘It would be good if we could get involved and make things different, make them the way we want’.

‘You need to know how to budget and about allowances and applying for them’.

If you feel that one or more parts of this pledge have not been upheld for you, or you feel any of your rights has not been met, there are some things you can do:

• First, it is best to speak to your carer or social care worker. As people who know you, they will probably be the best people to help put things right
• You can also talk to your reviewing officer during the review process
• You can contact one of the county councillors who is on the corporate parenting group. Their contact details can be found at: www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/ccandp/ccandpanels/
• If this doesn’t work, contact the advocacy service Voice. They have specialist staff who are there to help sort out problems with you. Their contact details are:

(Hertfordshire) 01707 270169
(national) Free phone 0808 800 5792
www.voiceyp.org

You are also able to make a complaint to CSF about your care if you wish. We will help you do this if you need. Their contact details are:
Children’s Complaints Manager
Tel: 01992 588542
email: csf.customerfocus@hertscc.gov.uk

There are some useful numbers and web-sites about information and help in Hertfordshire for children and young people who are looked after or who have left care:

Voice advocacy service (Free phone 0808 800 5792)
www.voiceyp.org
www.channelmogo.org

You can also contact the CSF Participation team. This team won’t be able to help sort out individual issues, but they run the ‘Children in Care Council’, where you can meet other children who are looked after and together we can make things better for everyone. Their contact details are: 01992 556685

Other sources of information and support

There are national organisations for children and young people in (and leaving) care. Some details include:
www.rights4me.org
Free phone 0800 528 0731

Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)
www.crae.org.uk
email: info@crae.org.uk
020 7278 8222 Out of hours: 07949 434 787

The ‘Council’ for children looked after
If you have views and thoughts about care you could become involved with the ‘council’ for children looked after. The ‘council’ has regular meetings with the director for Children’s Services to look at how things are working and what improvements could be made.

The ‘council’ also undertakes lots of different projects to look at issues affecting children and young people in care.

The ‘council’ has only been set up recently (March 2009) but we will soon be able to provide full details here about the projects and issues that the ‘Council’ will look be looking at over the next twelve months.

The ‘council’ is open to anyone to take part in. Please do keep checking this website for more information about upcoming projects. If you are interested in being involved we would love to hear from you. You can contact the Participation team (who run the ‘council’) on 01992 556685 or send an email to: councilforchildrenincare@hertscc.gov.uk.