Care leavers help improve services for children

Chloe went into care aged 15 and now supports young people with their mental health

Young people who have been through the care system are helping improve a social services' department.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council's children's services was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted in December 2021.

A monitoring visit by the inspectorate, earlier this year, found "considerable progress" had been made but vulnerable children were still being put at risk of harm.

As part of work to raise standards, the council is involving care leavers in interview panels for social workers and senior staff, and in developing support services.

Chloe, 27, went into care aged 15 after spending much of her adolescent years in hospital because of struggles with her mental health.

She found it "tough" comparing her life to that of her friends and said she felt like a lot of her childhood was "taken away from me".

She added: "To just have had someone that had been through it that I could have spoken to would have made a massive difference."

Chloe is now a peer specialist in mental health services in Dorset and has helped set up a hub in Bournemouth for young people in care to meet and access services.

Ivy went into care aged 7 and now helps train and interview social workers

Ivy, 23, went into care aged seven after calling an ambulance when her mum had overdosed on drugs.

She remembers having "no idea where I was going" after being picked up from school by her social worker to go to her placement, because she'd never left her home town before.

On her work with BCP Council now, she added: "We get an input of who we hire and we also get to ask questions, which is really fun.

"I've interviewed people from social workers all the way up to the director of children's services and I'm also the co-chair for the corporate parenting board.

"So I help run a meeting where decisions are made about potential benefits for children in care and care leavers".

Terry Husher, children's rights and engagement worker for BCP Council, said children's services were "using the voice and the influence of young people" on its journey to improve.

"We can all have these ideas of what would be great, but none of us are experts unless we've lived it," he said.

"They want to give up their time to come and help other young people and to help us make better services and they are absolutely incredible in what they do."

Ivy said involving young people with a range of care experience was an important part of improving services.

"None of us have the exact same story," she said.

"Something that may have happened to me might not have happened to Chloe but we can still work together to sort something out."

Chloe said she placed great importance on enabling young people to "have a voice".

"I think the earlier you get in to support someone, the better the outcome," she said.