Recently two members of the Care leavers forum visited the National Benchmarking forum. The benchmarking forum is a chance for care leavers from all over the country to get together and discuss issues that matter to them.
We attended the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum in Birmingham which was also attended by other care leavers and participation workers from across the country. Throughout the day we spoke about various topics that can affect care leavers for example preparation for independence, financial support and the staying put policy.
We looked back at all the good work that the Forum has done over the last year, and our priorities for the next year will be Preparation for adult life, Financial entitlements, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Placements out of area, and education and employment opportunities. It was interesting to hear what was working well in different areas, in terms of young peoples involvement but we have heard a lot of good ideas such as more emotional support, more regular trips out, and ILG being spent on things young people didn’t want it spent on.
As a result of today’s event we shall be talking to the Head of leaving care service to see how we can progress and work together on these issues. We both found todays YPMBF event very informative and interesting as we were able to hear about other care leavers authorities and what they are doing.
Written by Chloe and Mel from the CiCC.
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