Participation in Sandwell Children’s Trust
The voice of children and young people is at the forefront of everything that we do in Sandwell Children’s Trust. It is essential that children and young people who have a Social Worker or Personal Advisor in their lives, know their rights and how they can work with us to improve the service that they receive. We have developed the ‘How Can I Help You Participation Strategy’ which focusses on the four I’s: Invest, Inform, Involve and Influence. Below are some of the groups you can get involved in but you can also get in touch by using Mind of My Own or i-Say.
Mind of My Own
If you wish to get in touch with us to share good news, prepare for a meeting, your worker visiting you or wish to make a complaint, feel unsafe or just want to express your feelings then don’t hesitate to use Mind of My Own, it easy just follow these instructions for children and young people to set up an account.
i-Say!
i-Say Is our own online feedback form for children and young people. It is easy to find on our website and very simple to use. Just look for the logo.
Voices of Sandwell
The Voices of Sandwell (VOS) are a group of children and young people of different ages and backgrounds who work hard to represent children in care in Sandwell.
The VOS members play a vital role in ensuring that children’s voices are heard, particularly when decisions are being made that affect their lives. It is not an easy job and they do it for the young people.
The VOS meet on a fortnightly basis to support each other, build friendships, talk about what is going on for them and they play an integral role in the improvements that are made in Sandwell Children’s Trust.
Care Leavers Forum
The Care Leavers Forum is a group of young people who have all experienced being in care. The aim of the group is to improve the services care leavers receive from Sandwell Children’s Trust. They help make the difficult transition from care to independence a better experience for all young people. The group meets every two weeks on a Wednesday.
Members of the Care Leavers Forum take part in staff interviews, induction training events, training for foster carers, attend meetings with social work managers and work with us to improve our services. They have helped shape the Local offer for care leavers which outlines services to young people. Check out our Local Offer.
Both the Voices of Sandwell and Care Leavers Forum meet every three months with the Corporate Parenting Board (CPB). CPB comprises of six elected Councillors including the Cabinet Member for Best Start in Life, Sandwell MBC Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services, Sandwell Children’s Trust Chief Executive, Director of Operations, senior managers and other service providers to inform them of what is going well, what needs to change and what the Voices of Sandwell group and Care Leavers Forum plan to do in the future.
To find out more, contact the Participation Team on:
- Call: 0121 569 5922
- participation_team@sandwellchildrenstrust.org
- Sandwell Children’s Trust
- Mind of My Own
- Twitter: @ParticipationSC
- Facebook: Sandy Wells
