Any young person, who is or has been looked after in Wales, is welcome to become a member of Voices From Care. Voices From Care relies on it's members to keep us up to date on issues of concern and interest. We use their everyday reality of living in or leaving the care system to inform our other work areas.
ADVICE AND SUPPORT WORK SERVICE
Voices
From Care provides an Advice and Support Work Service for young people who
are or have been looked after in Wales. This is generally individual support
given by Voices From Care Support Work staff around any issue that is of concern
to young people. Some of the issues that young people have asked for support
on have been: Housing, Drug issues, all types of abuse, helping to get the
young persons voice across in all sorts of meetings, leaving care, education,
parenting issues, and as you can imagine this list is endless so we cover
ALL issues.
The Voices From Care Support Work Service is one of the most confidential
in the UK, meaning that we completely independent from social services and
other agencies.
Young people wishing to become involved with the work of Voices From Care
are offered practical and emotional support via Voices From Care Support Work
staff. Voices From Care is a place to meet other young people in or leaving
care to share experiences.
Voices
From Care operates training services to organisations and agencies that provide
services to young people "looked after". The basis of this training
is the indisputable fact that the experiences and views of young people are
a valuable source of information, which can compliment the training of professionals
by offering a real insight into issues facing young people.
Voices From Care Training Services currently focus on five primary areas:
· EDUCATION
· EMPOWERMENT
· HEALTH
· LEAVING CARE
· COMMUNICATION
This service is informed and delivered by young people who are or have been
looked after by local authorities, and accordingly, this site is subject to constant review and updating.
Voices From Care's training is flexible to the needs of participants and can
be a tool in overcoming the task of involving young people in the development
of both voluntary and statutory organisations who provide services to those
who are or have been in the looked after system.
Voices From Care offers young people the chance to be trained, to deliver
training and promote the voice of young people collectively in a variety of
settings, including local authorities, voluntary organisation, colleges and
universities across Wales.
Voices From Care needs to know exactly what is happening to young people who are or have been looked after, so we know what things need to change. The organisationundertakes it's own research - asking members and volunteers about their experiences and issues. This research is then used to inform the other work areas of Voices From Care.
Voices From Care exists to improve conditions and outcomes for young people who are or have been looked after. The organisation actively campaigns around issues, which are of concern to young people. We will work with other volutary organisations, the media and through appropriate avenues in our campaign work.
Voices From Care ensures that the views/experiences of young people who are or have been looked after are known at a policy-making and decision making level. Where possible we try to ensure that young people are in direct dialogue with those responsible for shaping the care system.
