Community Development Project

1
Community Development Project

• Relevant Lives DVD
• How can this be used in training?

Sharon Bevan, Lorna Johnson and Sarah Rayne
2
Project Brief

• To assist in the creation of a training package
  to accompany a DVD by young care leavers

• This will include
• Setting up focus groups to collect feedback
• Attending an accreditation meeting to obtain
  the views of the young care leavers
• Shadowing the care leaving team
• Research into other training packages

3
The importance of Service User Participation

• Recent initiatives and policies have highlighted
  the need for service user choice
• The initiative behind Relevant Lives portrays
  the views and opinions of young people
• Service user voice allows the development of
  services, development of confidence and skills
• It is a legal right that service users
  participate in the care they receive

4
Leaving Care Act (2000)

• Aims of the Act
• To provide continued support for the care leaver
• Financial assistance
• Support is to be provided to enable the young
  person to develop and sustain appropriate family
  and social relationships
• A programme to develop the practical and other
  skills necessary for the young person to live
  independently
• Contingency plans for action to be taken by the
  responsible authority should the pathway plan for
  any reason cease to be effective

5
Focus group one Thoughts and views
Care leavers are passed around between
professionals in times of need

• NVQ Level 3 Health and social care students

Care leavers aren't helped enough and are not
prepared for adulthood e.g. budgeting
Care leavers need assistance to be pro-active in
their life choices
The DVD seemed very true to life
Care leavers are frustrated and disempowered
There are barriers between professionals that
affect the services that care leavers receive
6
Focus group two Thoughts and views
Where possible, care leavers should be invited
to training sessions to enable an open forum
debate

• Social Workers and Personal Assistants

A sequel DVD would be useful to see where the
care leavers are with their lives now
Foster carers may be defensive of the messages
in the DVD but this will reinforce their good
practice
Foster care needs to be respected as a
profession but you need professionals to do it.
It should be made worthwhile as a career
The way forward needs to be decided before the
training is put in place
7
Focus group three Thoughts and views
We try hard to teach life skills. Social
Services do the opposite and in fact hinder our
work a lot of the time

• Foster carers

Social services should work with foster carers
and not against them (multi agency working)
The messages in the DVD are negative, but foster
carers do not just drop young people when they
leave their care
I was offended by the messages about foster
carers, I do not think the DVD should be used in
training
8
Focus group four Thoughts and views
Social workers break promises
I feel angry and distressed about the care we
receive and the leaving care process

• Care leavers

We are people as well as care leavers not just
numbers people can pass around
I have felt ignored by many social workers and
foster carers. I was just another problem kid to
them
Foster carers should have extra training and
there should be a checklist of requirements,
instead of just taking anyone
Social workers should respond immediately to our
needs if we call them
9
Focus group five Thoughts and views

• Named nurse for LAC, Staff development officer,
  Education advisor, and Family support manager

A pathway plan and having a PA is not a
substitute for a phone call or text home for help
There is a need for on going support young
people have to rely on themselves and their peers
Young care leavers have too much independence
too soon
Care leavers are cynical about their experiences
but have found the resilience to challenge the
system objectively
After school cooking and life skill sessions
incorporated in their payment plans would be
beneficial for care leavers
10
How can the DVD be used in training?What ideas
were suggested to go with this tool to create a
package?

• Part of an induction package for employed workers
  and newly qualified staff
• To improve care planning skills and listening to
  the voice of young people
• To help other care leavers to understand what
  they are experiencing
• Where possible, to invite care leavers to
  training sessions to enable an open forum
  discussion
• Informative information and leaflets are
  essential and should be produced alongside the
  DVD
• Guidance for schools on how to support care
  leavers is required
• DVD could be used alongside the safeguarding
  children training
• A useful tool for anyone training in childrens
  services (Career guidance advisors, youth workers
  and the young people themselves)
• The DVD could be used as it stands . But there
  is an opportunity to ensure good standards of
  practice are maintained
• To be shown to 15/16 year olds to start
  conversations
• Make use of this DVD in foster care training
• It must be backed up with research, further
  reading and statistics.
• An example of a pathway plan and instructions for
  how these should be completed and put to good use
• Guidance notes of the role expected of everyone
  working with people in care and care leavers e.g.
  what I the role of social worker/ foster carer/
  teacher/ youth worker etc
• An example of a positive care leaving experience
• A manual of how to make solutions to the problems
  that occurred in the DVD
• A profile of the experiences of the care leavers
  in the DVD to accompany it this may help people
  to understand why these messages are portrayed.

11
Shadowing our thoughts and views

• Social workers and PAs were communicating with
  each other regarding their care leavers
• Social workers would respond to messages when
  they received them
• There was a variety of tasks to be undertaken
  e.g. care leaving team meeting, visiting care
  leavers, negotiating with other agencies, multi
  disciplinary meetings (for funding and resources)
  Coffee and chat!
• Workers discussing pathway plans lengthy, time
  consuming and repetitive in nature
• Gave us an insight into the roles and
  responsibilities of the various workers,
  similarities and differences between social
  workers and PAs
• Workers were going out of their way to provide
  efficient services and respond to the needs of
  the care leavers

12
Student thoughts and views on the DVD

• A thought provoking and intelligent portrayal of
  these care leavers experiences
• Negativity and confusion
• Background explanation required for each scene in
  the DVD
• A representative is required at each training
  session to demonstrate the care leavers views
• We feel strongly for the introduction of foster
  carers views for balance in this package
• Included in the package we feel there should be a
  pathway plan, profiles of the DVD actors,
  detailed guidance of what is expected of all
  professionals and agencies.
• We feel this DVD should be compulsory for
  everyone involved in the process, provided that
  background research, statistics and explanations
  are provided.

13
Research

• Reconstruct
• Rainer
• Care leavers association
• Connexions

14
Reconstruct

• This Fit For Practice with Looked After Young
  People pack is a six module training manual
  designed to provide core training for those
  working with looked after children
• Fit for practice is an integrated and holistic
  training pack which is relevant to everyone who
  works with lAC and care leavers
• This manual cost 175 plus 10 post and packaging
  plus VAT
• For more information follow this link
  http//www.reconstruct.co.uk/index.php

15
Rainer

• Building on over 200 years experience, Rainer now
  runs around 55 services and projects nationally,
  working with under-supported young people
•  Many of the young people have been involved with
  the criminal justice system, are in or leaving
  care, homeless, may be young parents or are
  facing serious deficits in their education
  affecting their employment prospects
• There are also partnership projects that run
  alongside Rainer in their work for young people
• For more information, visit their website
  www.raineronline.org

16
Care Leaving Association

• CLA is an independent charity formed in 2000
• The CLA aims to set up support networks for care
  leavers
• Supporting care leavers in every aspect of their
  lives, providing information on supportive
  services
• Campaigning for developments and changes within
  the care system and provisions
• Provides presentations to undergraduate and
  postgraduate social workers
• Can provide consultancy and training to other
  professionals and carers who work with care
  leavers

17
Next steps

• Please follow up these next steps
• Contact Education Adviser from focus group five
  (please speak to CDP group for contact details)
• Contact connexions adviser regarding using the
  DVD for training (See Lorna)