Young Advisors
Our Hear Me…Young Advisors are young people with experience of care. They all know what works well and what doesn’t work. Young Advisors use their experience to help improve our services and make things better for you!
Being a role model
Our Young Advisors act as a role model to other young people through our voice groups, supporting others to get involved and use their voice
Presenting at events
As part of our team the young Advisors present the work they’ve been involved in at various events including updating our staff at our staff summits.
These events are a chance for our Young Advisors to help staff celebrate their achievements, share their own achievements and to remind staff why they come to work – to make a difference to young people and families.
These events are a chance for our Young Advisors to help staff celebrate their achievements, share their own achievements and to remind staff why they come to work – to make a difference to young people and families.
Hear Me…telling it like it is training
Our Young Advisors are able to provide a unique insight into the care system through their Hear Me training.
They’ve been involved in delivering and developing the Hear Me training to help us to understand what life is really like for children and young people in care.
Getting the right person for the job
We want to employ people with the right skills for the job. And there is no more important skill than the ability to talk to and engage with young people. That’s why our Young Advisors together with members of our voice groups are involved in the interviews to recruit social workers and other roles throughout the organisation.
All Party Parliamentary Group
Our Young Advisors often attend the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for looked after children and care leavers at Westminster which was set up in 1998 and is an informal cross-party group of members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons who share a common interest in improving policy and driving government action to support care-experienced young people. They bring back their learning into the Trust to influence how we work with our children and young people.
Changing social work practice
All industries have their own jargon and the world of social work is no different. Our Young Advisors through their work with our voice groups have let us know that some of those words can make them feel they have been ‘labelled’.
At our staff events, they have shared with staff how words like ‘contact’ and ‘respite’ make them feel and instead asked us to call it ‘family time’ and ‘sleepovers’. It’s not just language the Young Advisors have been influencing.
At our staff events, they have shared with staff how words like ‘contact’ and ‘respite’ make them feel and instead asked us to call it ‘family time’ and ‘sleepovers’. It’s not just language the Young Advisors have been influencing.
Supporting each other and having fun
Our Young Advisors know how important it is for children and young people growing up in care to spend time together and share their experiences, so they don’t feel alone. They regularly help to organise events to bring our children and young people together for some fun. They’ve helped organise discos, picnics, walks, fitness days and so much more!
Young Advisor’s Achievements
Saying our Young Advisors change lives might seem dramatic, but we know even small changes can make a big difference to someone living in care.
Here are just a few examples of work our Young Advisors have been involved in:
Family time
Changing the way young people spend time with their brothers and sisters when they are growing up apart
Improving children’s homes
Making them more friendly and inviting for everyone living there.
Changing language
The language used by social workers and staff - we no longer say ‘contact’, we now call it ‘family time’ and we no longer say ‘respite’ we say sleepovers
Hear Me training
They’ve delivered this training to 100’s of staff, foster carers and other professionals working with young people. What’s more the course has become so popular they are now rolling it out across the country to other organisations that work with children in care.
Becci’s Bursary
Adapted the Hear Me training programme to make money to support care leavers with educational and training opportunities.
Mental Health
Worked on a national pilot with eight other children’s services across the country on a pilot to create a new way of working with children and young people to assess their mental health and wellbeing needs.
Improving social work practice
They’ve also been involved in leading work about what makes a good social work visit and changing the expectations within the organisation.
Making care experience a protected characteristic
They got involved with a national campaign to make care experience a protected characteristic and took this request to senior leaders within the council who agreed to do this. This will ensure care experienced people are protected and included in all policies and procedures with the City of Doncaster Council.
Free Leisure Passes for care leavers
They presented to DCLT about the difficulties care leavers face in accessing leisure facilities due to the cost. DCLT and The City of Doncaster Council came together to agree to fund a free leisure pass for all care leavers for 1 year.
Digital Inclusion for Care Leavers
They worked with us to help us understand that digital poverty can affect many areas of their lives. Through this work we have been able to secure free data, minutes, and text messages for 1 year for care leavers who are experiencing digital poverty
Downloads & Resources
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Last updated: 14 March 2024 12:56:13