Care leavers local offer - your voice

We want you to share your views to make sure that the services we and others provide can meet your needs.

If we're not getting it right for you, then we want you to tell us about that, and help us to change things to make it better.. You can tell your Personal Adviser (PA), their manager, the person who reviews your Pathway Plan, or you can make a formal complaint.

Find out more on our feedback and complaints webpage. 

Have your say in plans and meetings 

You have a right to be involved in all decisions affecting your life and this includes having your voice heard in meetings and plans about you. We want you to come to your review meetings so that we can hear from you about what you want, what's going well and what's not so good.

Some young people like to chair their own review meetings, which is great. If this is something that you'd like to do, even if you feel you need a bit of help to do it, please tell your PA.

You also have the right to see all information about you, this includes files from when you were in care. Your PA can tell you about this and explain what to do to make this happen.

Your PA will support you:

• to attend meetings
• have your say
• understand the outcomes 

Getting your voice heard through local and general elections 

When you turn 18 years old, you will have the right to vote and will need to register.  

Register to vote.

This will make it easier to apply for:

• housing
• your passport
• a bank account

If you need support with this, contact your PA.

Feedback and your voice 

Feedback on our support and accommodation is particularly important to us. To help have your voice heard, we offer a Young Inspectors programme which gives care experienced young people the chance to review and evaluate our supported accommodation services. This can let us know what is going well and what needs to change.

We want to hear from you about your experience of the services that we offer. You can come to a group in the No Limits Hub to tell us about your experiences. You can also talk to Sophie, our Participation Worker, or to your PA. We'd like to work with you to make our services better, so if you have some ideas, please let us know!

Let's Take Action

We have the Let's Take Action (LTA) group to give children and young people the chance to shape and influence the services that matter to them.  

Every week the LTA group meets in the No Limits Hub. There are separate groups for 12-15 year olds and for care leavers aged 16-25 years. The groups enable you to share your views, develop some life skills and also enjoy yourselves. It also provides a platform for care experienced young people aged 16-25 years to contribute to making positive changes in the Local Authority, along with reviewing, improving, and shaping services for young people across the Borough.

Each of these age groups meet on different days. Follow the @LetsTakeActionSOT Instagram account for more details. Let's Take Action is organised by the Participation Manager Sophie Haste.

The members of Let's Take Action are also part of the Regional Children in Care Council, and representatives from the groups attend and contribute to the sessions that are held across the North East.

If you would like to have your say in how your service supports you please speak to your PA or email Sophie Haste on sophie.haste@stockton.gov.uk about joining the LTA group. We are always striving to improve our service, so all feedback is helpful - and we are always looking for new members!

For more information visit the Children in our Care Council page.

Independent advocacy

We want you to have your views, wishes and feelings heard when decisions are being made that will affect your life. Independent advocacy is being able to speak up for yourself, by the correct support and information being given to you.   

You can access independent advocacy as a Care Leaver in Stockton from National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS). They will create a plan that will: 

• set out what help you need
• inform you of the steps to help you achieve your goals
• review how things are going and keep you updated
• discuss and agree any other steps that need to be taken to achieve your goals
• make sure you know how to contact your advocate

Talk to your PA for more details. If you don't have a PA please speak to the Duty Officer on 01642 527860 or email us on lookedafterchildrenadmin@stockton.gov.uk.