A National Voice

ANV News [Pre] Archive

'No Place Like Home' Campaign

The average age for leaving home in England is 24 and yet many Care leavers have to set up home and make the transition to adult life at a much younger age.

ANV carried out the largest ever survey of the housing needs of Care leavers. We surveyed almost 300 care Leavers around England as well as almost 300 professionals who work with care leavers (Housing Professionals and Leaving Care Workers/Personal Advisors). Thanks to everyone who answered our survey. We have now publishing a full colour report based on our findings. The full colour 40 page report is available from our Manchester office priced at £10 + pp. Call or email us to place your order 0161 237 5577 info@anationalvoice.org

NPLH represents a land mark campaign; it is the first time there has been a national survey linking Local Authority Social Services professionals to Housing Departments to uncover why so many care leavers feel under supported. It is clear that these two departments have historically worked with care leavers in different ways. Since the Leaving Care Act a couple of years ago things have improved but there are still areas of confusion between these two departments - which can leave care leavers 'slipping through the gap' and not getting the support they need, or are entitled to.

ANV published the initial findings from almost 300 care leavers along with a set of recommendations (available on this site). We also launched the campaign on HMS President to an audience of about 100. ANV presented our findings at a conference in London in front of the Housing Minister Keith Hill. We have now produced a full colour 40 page report with recommendations and we will ensure this report goes out to all Directors of social services, the Children's Commissioner as well as voluntary Organisations and senior Government officials including the Minister for Housing as well as Minister for Children and Young people.

To order your full colour 40 page report priced £10 get in touch.

Read/download a brief summary of the 'No Place Like Home' report ( pdf 509KB)

The 'No Place Like Home' Campaign is Supported by:

• NCH
• Fostering Network
• Professor Mike Stein (York University Social Work Dept)
• Rainer
• Bryn Melyn Foundation
• Office of the Childrens Rights Director & ADSS
• Barnardos
• NCB (Childrens Residential Unit)
• SCIE (Social Care Institute of Excellence)
• Centrepoint
• AOAC (Action on After Care Consortium)
• BAAF (British Association of Adoption & Fostering)
• Prince's Trust
• VCC (Voice for the Child in Care)
• Hilton Dawson MP (Chair of All Party Group for Children in Care)
• Who Cares Trust
• Children's Residential Care Unit at NCB
• Ann Wheal, Social Work Division, University of Southampton

Big Thanks to John Dotchin & ReSurv for help with the campaign

More LA's Have Signed Our No Bin Bag Charter

The event at Tate Britain aimed to celebrate the success of our campaign and featured young people care leavers, some charity CEO's as well as a few directors of social services and some celebrities from TV modelling. All the outfits are made from bin bags and the show is called 'The Refuse Collection'.

'THIS IS NOT A SUITCASE', a campaign run by A National Voice for the last two years, seeks to end the practice of 'binbagging' (moving young people with their possessions in bin bags). We also want to encourage local authorities to sign our Charter agreeing to provide suitcases for young people in care. "It's a basic and simple idea- but it's about respect" said Sam Block, vice chair of A National Voice management Committee, "Last year Safeways donated almost 400 suitcases to us and we passed them on to Local Authorities, they were all snapped up in a short time."

The 'Refuse Collection' - organized by A National Voice, really is a fashion show with a difference. The outfits are all made from bin bags, designed by professional and noted designers, including Frank Usher and Abigail Fallis and modelled by care leavers, chief executives of large charities, some TV celebs and some local authority social services directors. London College of Fashion and their students also helped to make the show a success.

The event was hosted by Tate Britain , Barnardos and the Social Care Institute of Excellence and was attended by a representative of Maria Eagle, Minister in the DfES, Lord Laming among others.

"This campaign was created by young people from care and over 70 local authorities, several national charities and independent providers, as well as ADSS and the Children's Rights Director have already signed up to the 'No Bin Bag' charter" said Maxine Wrigley, ex Care Leaver and Coordinator of A National Voice, "but the fashion show is designed to further promote the charter and encourage all care providers to adopt this as an official policy, so please contact us at info@anationalvoice.org and we will send you the charter."

To find out who has signed the Charter and to see photos from the Tate Britain show visit www.thisisnotasuitcase.org.uk (thanks to SCIE for building & hosting this site for us)

Click here to read our press release ( pdf 24KB)

read more about previous shows

photos of previous shows

All Parliamentary Group for Children from Care Resumes

David Kidney MP announced in late 2005 that he is going to chair the regular APG at the House Of Commons. The group had no chair and its future was in doubt since Hilton Dawson stepped down from being an MP at the election last May.

ANV have been attending this important group for 5 years and we are delighted that David Kidney MP has offered to take over from Hilton. The group meets bi-monthly at the House of Commons and is open to all children and young people from care.

Many leading charities as well as important decision makers (and sometimes Government Ministers) attend the group and it is a real opportunity for children and young people to get their voices heard.

If you would like to attend get in touch with us or The Who Cares? Trust (see links) and we will give you more details

Safeway Donates 376 Suitcases

Our campaign to put an end to bin bag culture is going well. Have you seen the folded bin bags with a sticker saying 'THIS IS NOT A SUITCASE'? Over a thousand have been sent out. The campaign has received lots of good feedback and was promoted by press and TV especially after our bin bag fashion show - called the 'Refuse Collection' in February, and also during the pan BBC Care season of programmes called 'Taking Care' last Spring. The plan is to stop children and young people having to move care placements with their possessions in bin bags - when a suitcase is fairly cheap and much more appropriate.

In 2004 we had a donation of 376 suitcases from Safeway supermarket stores after one of our members was heard talking about our 'This Is Not A Suitcase' campaign on BBC Radio Kent in association with radio Kent Action Line and CSV. We ensured these suitcases reach Social Services and young people as soon as possible. We want to say thanks for this donation.

Many young people and workers have supported this campaign by making their own folded bin bags, get in touch and we will send you the stickers.

On the subject of bin bags Harrow Social Services is setting a good example. Paul Clark the Director of Harrow Social Services recently told us that they already implement an unofficial 'no bin bags' policy. We asked him what his position was. He told us:

"The situation here is that I heard that a young person may have been moved with their things in a bin bag - I was NOT happy - I made it clear that we NEVER move young people with their things in bin bags - that we have a supply of good new - sports bags and small cases so we can give those to those coming into the system and that young people in the system can then choose their own.

This was operated by my managers. I have not made it a written policy - as such - i made it clear in person to the managers and it is now in operation. We are reviewing some of our practice - with young people - and a new policy will come from that."

We want to encourage more Directors to become proactive about this issue. Please let us know if you hear of any examples of binbagging.

We Continue to Work for Positive Change

As our organisation keeps growing we continue to put pressure on Government and policy makers to do more to create positive changes to the Care system. We actively listen to what children and young people say about life in and leaving Care and then pass on these messages to the important decision makers.

We are pleased that there are new duties for Local Authorities to provide an independent advocate for all young people from Care who wish to make a complaint about the service they receive (see DfES website). As well as this we are glad that the issue about sleepovers seems to have been resolved (see this document).

We are also working with other organisations to try to make changes to the law which would mean that Local Authorities have a duty to encourage, maintain and support contact with natural brothers and sisters and grandparents when living in care (if the child wishes to). At present the law only says that Local Authorities have a duty to encourage this contact with parents, and many young people want more contact with siblings. Also, there is now a duty for Corporate Parents to promote the educational achievements of Looked After children and we would like this duty to extend to schools and Carers.

We also continue to attend meetings, conferences and events where issues concerning young people from Care are on the agenda, promoting the rights of young people from Care and raising awareness about Care issues.

A National Voice continues to attend the All Party Group For Children in Care held every month at the House of Commons and hosted by David Kidney MP. The All Party Group is open to all young people in Care and Care leavers.

A National Voice have increased our recommended amount for the Leaving Care Grant to be set at £2000 minimum. This amount reflects our own national research and is based on a Care Leaver moving into a one bedroom flat. This grant should be set nationally to ensure all young people setting up home for the very first time receive the same wherever they may live. Our research shows that current Leaving Care grants vary enormously with some set at less than £500 and others may be several times that amount. We want to put an end to this current 'postcode lottery' approach as many young people are upset to find out that people living in a neighbouring local authority are getting lots more money to start their independent life.

ANV were featured several times during the pan BBC season about Care. The season was called 'Taking Care' and it is estimated to have reached 35 million people (including Eastenders audiences) across the UK during 2 weeks in February 04. ANV carried out several National and Local TV and radio interviews relating to Care during the BBC Taking Care season of programmes. In the past few years ANV have given national press and radio interviews on numerous occasions including The guardian and the times newspapers, Radio 1,2 and 4. Our Tate Britain fashion show was featured in OK magazine.

We also continue to contribute to the Governments Choice Protects Initiative and National Partnership in Placement Forum, ensuring that the voices of our members are heard and included in Government level decision making.

Government is Serious About Improving Foster Care

There is an estimated shortage of 6000 foster placements in England according to research carried out by The Fostering Network. This means that thousands of children are awaiting a suitable placement right now.

Fostering a child can often be a very rewarding experience and many myths about fostering may be preventing potential fosterers from applying. For example you do not need to be married or own your own home to be a foster parent and many people are unaware of this. At A National Voice we welcome the Government's Choice Protects Initiative which aims to improve and increase fostering services.

ANV have launched our own Foster Care Campaign to raise awareness about Foster Care and our campaign was written by children and young people with personal experience of Foster care. The campaign suggests 8 simple solutions to improving fostering services, particuarly ways to make moving to and from the placement better. We feel it is vital that when leaving a placement there is an ex-placement contact plan in place as many young people tell us that they make friends with foster brothers and sisters and then lose all contact with them when they are moved on.

The Choice Protects initiative is a three year review of fostering and placement services.

This year each local authority will receive £19.75 million to expand and strengthen fostering services. The total three year grant is £113 million and the money will be used to improve the support offered to foster carers and to develop new and specialist foster services that meet the needs of children and young people.