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Welcome to our September edition of Fostering News. In this newsletter we have a reminder about the upcoming foster carer conference that’s taking place this month, we say goodbye to some long standing members of staff and we feature some interesting opportunities for our young people via the Duke of Edinburgh and the Police Cadets Projects.
It’s not too late to book on to this year's NCC Fostering Service and Foster Carers' Conference on Wednesday 18th September 2019 to be held at the Civic Quarter, Mansfield. If you would like to reserve a place please email fostering@nottscc.gov.uk
Special library cards are now available for our carers via Inspire, with additional benefits such as no late fees, extended number of borrows per month and access to children’s activities within the library. Head into an Inspire library across the county with your foster carer ID badge to access yours.
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As part of last year's consultation, we received feedback from our carers that our small team of Family Worker’s are an invaluable asset to the service, who provide real support in times of crisis by working with both looked after children and foster carers. In response to this feedback we have increased this team with two new full-time workers to enable us to extend the support the team gives to the families who need it. This month, we welcome Lyndsey Evans and Laura Hambly to the Family Workers team and hope they enjoy their new roles within the service.
The North Team will experience huge changes this month as both supervising social worker, Judith Shepherd and team manager, Sandra Warner retire after more than 30 years’ of dedicated service to Nottinghamshire County Council. We wish them both a long and happy retirement! Finally, we say a sad farewell to our respected colleague Elaine Mills who has been a pivotal member of the recruitment and projects team for 15 years. She will be greatly missed and we wish her all the best in her new role.
Do you have a 16 or 17 year old in your home? Did you know that there is now a railcard for 16 and 17 year olds that can save them up to 50% off most rail fares?
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A huge thank you to all the courageous children who joined us last month at the National Water Sports Centre, Holmepierre Pont, for an action packed day of fun out on the water and up in the sky (on the Sky Trail!)
We had so much fun in the morning on the mini golf course and Sky Trail. In the afternoon we took to the Wipeout Lagoon where we all got thoroughly soaked and laughed non-stop at both staff and children falling off the sides and slip-sliding their way across the course.
It was a wonderful turn out of our 8-18 year old carers' birth-children and we hope they all enjoyed the day as much as we did. We’re already looking forward to next year!
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Nottinghamshire Police are running monthly Cadet groups for children aged 11 -16 across the county. The sessions will be action-packed, where the young people will pick up new skills, learn more about the police and many other organisations, make friends, take part in fun activities and create opportunities for the future.
The main aim of the Roadshows are to engage with young people (aged 11-16) :
- To raise aspirations amongst our young people and give them something positive to do
- Future recruitment/Positive Action
- Building trust, confidence and positive relationships
These sessions are open both to birth and looked after children.
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Nottinghamshire County Council is proud to be working in partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme to bring looked after children and care leavers (aged 14–24) the opportunity to take part in either the Bronze, Silver or Gold awards for free. If you have a young person in your care who you think may be interested then please send an email to dukeofedinburgh@nottscc.gov.uk to find out how to access the award.
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This month, the Harley Gallery at the Welbeck Estate will be featuring an exhibition created by some of Nottinghamshire’s looked after children. The Literacy Project features a collection of miniatures and the children have created their own stories and narratives based on the images on display. The exhibition is open now, check out the website to learn more.
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We have a wonderful, dedicated fostering Facebook page called ‘Fostering in Nottinghamshire.’ Could you share and like our Facebook posts within your own Facebook friends to help us grow our fostering community in Nottinghamshire? Any content you share helps us reach more people and spread the word about recruiting more carers in our county.
We will be sending out our annual Foster Carers' Survey via email in early October, so please keep an eye out for it. Your feedback is so valuable to us and we use it to try to improve our service as well as our recruitment of new foster carers.
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