An Interview with An Amazing Child!
As part of Dudley’s Practice Week, we interviewed one of our amazing young people about their care experience and asked about their hopes for the future.
The young person was interviewed by her Social Worker, Amy Williams and there are many powerful points to reflect on.
Please take 5 minutes to watch the video and…
Hear My Story, Hear My Voice!
Hear My Story, Hear My Voice - Comic Strip - Messages From Our Children in Care Council
For Dudley’s Practice Week 2020, we wanted to make sure that the voice of the child was clearly captured and shared with you all.
To achieve this, we asked some of our amazing young people, who are part of the Dudley Children in Care Council,
about their journey and experiences through care.
Our questions were inspired by the ’Dear Social Worker’ project, completed by the Children in Care Council.
‘Hear my story, hear my voice’ contains messages from our very own children in care council, telling us about their experiences
of their personal journeys in care.
It’s taken a lot of courage, and the messages shared have been very powerful.
We want to make some assurances to our children in care about the service we aim to
provide for them, and this will help inform Dudley’s pledge to its children and young people.
If we are to ensure that children are first and in the heart of all we do, then hearing
what they have to say is a good place to start...
Following on from the ‘Hear My Story, Hear My Voice’ comic released in December’s Practice Week, we have once again collaborated with Dudley’s Children in Care Council to continue the story and create the ‘Ubuntu’ comic for Dudley's Practice Week 2021. This time we have asked the children and young people about their hopes for the future, their identity and how ‘being in care’ impacts upon them. We have also explored how other people’s views and behaviours towards them have impacted upon their confidence and self-esteem. The comic is also available to be viewed in video form.
Know your rights: licence and recall
a video by Howard League
Howard League have launched a new video that is an animation aimed at children and young people to help them understand their rights when released on licence.
The animation explains the process of being on licence, what can constitute a breach, the implications of breaching your licence and how recall works for those serving determinate sentences.
The video is available on Howard League's website, YouTube channel, and via the Content Hub on in-cell laptops across the custodial estate.
The Fusion Project offers support and wellbeing services to young people from BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) backgrounds, whilst another part of the project provides support and wellbeing services to young people who identify as LGBTQ+. The groups discuss a range of different topics and activities, which are related to mental health and wellbeing. Some of the group topics have included understanding anxiety, mindfulness and have even had creative workshops as part of our group sessions including a music workshop and creative cooking. A lot of ideas and topics for groups also come from group members themselves, we take suggestions on board and try to accommodate the best we can, an example of this is the music workshop which was actually a group members suggestion.
The Big Ask the largest ever survey of children and young people anywhere in the world!
Please click on the reports below, summarising the results of the 'The Big Ask' a survey carried out by the Children's Commissioner for England with over 557, 077 responses from children in England aged 4-17.
For more information please contact:
Amanda Grove (Lead for Youth and Community)
Amanda.grove@dudley.gov.uk 01384 818145 / 07900 161563
Darren Foley (Participation Officer - Children Looked After and Care Leavers)
Darren.foley@dudley.gov.uk 01384 815172 / 07827 836969
Make A Difference and Our Say Our Way
Project Update Report by
Emerson Hanslip, Youth Commissioners,