Hull Test Brochure

Hellos and goodbyes– page 4

Hooked on Bookslaunch – page 3

Get involved withfostering – page 5

Support groups –page 8

newsletter summer 2009

Tel: 01482 612800/300300email: [email protected] Visit: www.hullcc.gov.uk

The Hull Fostering newsletter for foster carers and their familiesOutlook

Freedom Road,the local bandmade up ofyoung peopletravelled toAustralia toparticipate in theCREATEFoundation’sInaugural YouthSummit - page 7

Freedom RoadDown Under

In this issue

foster new concept 10/8/09 10:17 Page 1

Fostering feedback forour carers, children andyoung people…

The Hull Fostering team arecommitted to listening to our carersand children. Whether you’re happy,sad or worried, we want to hear fromyou. If something is affecting you, thenit’s something we’re interested in.

Email your comments, criticismsand compliments to JacquieEdhouse, area manager (lookedafter children) [email protected] orleave a message for Jacquiethrough the fostering team on 01482 612800.

Fosteringfeedback for ourcarers, childrenand youngpeople…

Answer our questions and you couldwin a £20 shopping voucher. Simplyanswer the questions below byreading this copy of Outlook carefully.

March’s winner was Bill and TinaMoore – enjoy your shopping!

1. When will the FOSCARS 2009 beheld?

2. What do the initials RAPP standfor?

3. How much does the multi culturalgroup for young women cost persession?

A £20 voucher for the winner!

Answer 1:

Answer 2:

Answer 3:

Shopping Competition – Summer 2009

Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tel: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Postcode: . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

First correct answer out the hat wins…

Send your entry form to Rachel Lodge, Hull Fostering, BondStreet, Hull, HU1 3ER by the end of August 2009.

Firstly I’d just like to say a big thankyou to everyone who came along tosupport Foster Care Fortnight – yourhelp ensured we had anothersuccessful year.

Recently at fostering we’ve been consulting our carersand young people about a range of issues and we’re reallyenjoyed reading your responses and look forward to furtherdiscussions about all suggestions. Future feedback willinclude the contact and support survey from the Springedition of Outlook, the SDQ questionnaire from Januaryand the activity questionnaire from Lee Turnbull in May.Talking of which, Chloe Feve was the winner of a giftvoucher from this survey.

We do like to hear from our carers and we want to hearyour honest views. There are a number of opportunities tojoin steering groups or help out (on page 5) or you canalways contact Jacquie Edhouse directly (details below)and let me know what you think of your new newsletterlayout..

Have a great summer

Welcome to summeredition of Outlook

Rachel Lodge Marketing & Information Officer

2


Over the summer, from May toOctober, all young people in fostercare who are in school Y6 willreceive a pack of books every monththrough the post. This is a pilotscheme which aims to help youngpeople stay involved with readingover the summer holidays,especially important as they aremoving to secondary school in theAutumn.

Called Hooked on Books, the scheme launched inApril at the Children’s Library with an appearance fromPaul Cookson. Paul, who gave out copies of his bookafter the launch, entertained everyone with his veryfunny, often rude poems accompanied by his guitar.

The Hooked on Books parcels will come through thepost addressed to the young person. It will containdifferent books, puzzles, things to do and stationary.Young people should let fostering know how they’reenjoying their parcels by returning an evaluation formeach month.

The project is being coordinated by Cathryn Bull who

runs the Book Ahead program. If you have anyquestions about Hooked on Books you can contactCathryn on 01482 616949 or [email protected].

By 2011 all foster carers willneed to have completed (or fornew carers within two years) TheTraining, Support andDevelopment Standards for FosterCare which have been developedby The Children’s WorkforceDevelopment Council (CWDC).The standards will support yourday to day development as carersand all foster carers across the UKwill have to complete them.

There are seven standards tomeet which are; understand thevalues essential for fostering,understand your role as a fostercarer, understand health andsafety, communicate effectively,understand the development ofchildren, safeguard children anddevelop yourself. The fosteringtraining program also supports theCWDC standards and thedeveloping yourself standardsupports the fostering excellencebands.

To help our carers, fostering havecopies of CD-Rom which includeshelpful documents within thedifferent standards. You canobtain a copy of the CD-Romthrough your fostering socialworker. If you are working onthese standards or fosteringexcellence, why not bring themalong to a support group and workon them as a group?

CWDC standards help

Hooked on Books launch

3


Welcome to KellyRispin and TraceySoulsby

who join the mainstream stabilityand support team as a fosteringsocial workers. Tina Trowhill hasalso joined the team as a fosteringsocial worker to cover SarahMartindale’s maternity leave.

Welcome also to Eddie Howardwho joins the team as a fosteringsupport worker across theassessment and duty teams inmainstream fostering.

Maternity movings

Good luck to Sarah Martindaleand Sarah Stebbing who both leftfostering in June on maternityleave. Covering Sarah Stebbing’sleave as the IT coordinator will beDarren Sowter from the financeteam. He will be combining bothroles and can be contacted on(01482) 612800 [email protected] forcarer computer enquiries andtraining.

Goodbye Debbie

Goodbye to Debbie Griffith wholeft fostering in April. When askedabout her time at fostering Debbiesaid, “Thank you to all the fostercarers and colleagues in theFostering Team for a rewardingthree years. I have enjoyed everyminute of my time with the counciland feel inspired by all of the hardwork and commitment I have seen.My work has been really enjoyableand I have learnt a great deal fromevery person I have met. I hopethat everyone keeps workingtogether to support each other inthe challenging but essentialservice you provide.”

Suzanne moves to theHull Adoption team

Fostering social worker SuzannePinder moved to the Hull Adoptionteam. The fostering team wish herthe best of luck in her new role.

Goodbye Janice

Goodbye to Janice Scott who leftthe team at the end of March toretire. She said, “I have worked inthe Fostering Department for thelast ten years and during this time Ihave like all of us working withchildren had my laughter and mytears. We have some excellentfoster carers who continue to takeon more and more work to ensurethe best possible outcomes for thechildren placed.

I have enjoyed every minute ofworking with my foster carers andcolleagues and feel there will be abig hole in life now I am retiring. Iam however also looking forwardto days of sunshine in France andhope to live their permanentlywhen I sell my house. Most of allI would like to thank my friends inthe business team, admin andfostering social workers who havebeen such a large part of myworking career and a big support,always being there for me when Ineeded them. I hope that they willall keep in touch and certainlyinvite me to any future socialevents!!!!!!!!!!!!! I may be 60 but Ihave a mind of a 30 year old!!!!

More staff hellos and goodbyes tobe continued in September'snewsletter

Hellos and

goodbyes

4


There are lots of ways to getinvolved with fostering. Some ofthese activities help with therecruitment of new carers; such aspromotional events, presentationsfor prospective carers and newcarer training; and others focus oncontributing to the service such asjoining the consultation group, theIT group or a steering group forthe Christmas party.

Fostering need more carers tocome forward and volunteer forevents or to contribute to theservice and time spent in theseactivities can help you evidenceyour development as a fostercarer.

If you’re interested in helping outat fostering, please speak withyour social worker or contactRachel Lodge for a discussionaround what you want to do.Some carers offer to help out onweekends only, others preferevenings or days during the week.These opportunities are also opento young people.

Current opportunities to getinvolved with fostering include:

Christmas party steering group

IT steering group

Presentations for prospectivecarers (generally one Saturday,held every month)

Marketing and recruitmentsteering group

Film project

Also, please get in touch withRachel to suggest events forfostering to get involved with.

Get involved with fostering

The Eat Well Do Well Team is a newteam working with families ofoverweight children of all ages inHull. The team runs a range ofservices across the city including:

One to one consultations in clinic with a dieticianFun groups:

HENRY - for families of children under 5.

MEND for families of children aged 7 - 13 years.

Healthy Peeps - for children in secondaryschool year 7, 8, 9.

The sessions focus on helping children follow healthyeating advice, increasing their physical activity anddecreasing the amount of time they spend watchingTV/ playing computer games. Advice is free andconfidential and involves working with the children tomake small achievable goals.

Professionals can referfamilies to the team orfamilies can referthemselves if they feelthey would like someadditional informationand advice. To find outmore about the teamand our services or tobook onto a programmeplease call 01482336886 in the afternoon.This service is open toall children in Hull.

Eat Well, Do Well

5


The FOSCARS 2009

The FOSCARS, Hull Fostering’sannual award and celebrationevent, will return on Monday 26October. Held at The Guildhall, theFOSCARS will reward carersnominated for awards by theyoung people they look after, thefostering team, social workers andother workers from health andeducation. More information,including how to nominate, will beincluded in September's Outlookmagazine.

The Spotlight Awards

Congratulations to Yvonne andJohn Nicholson who won theFoster Carer of the Year award atthe Spotlight awards.

South Bankrecruitment drive

Thanks to Louise Shires, ColinHopkins and Chris Hopkins for alltheir work during this recruitmentdrive which included informationstalls at Grimsby, Scunthorpe andGoole. They attracted 25applicants to fostering.

Foster Care Fortnight2009

A big thank you to everyoneinvolved in this year’s Foster CareFortnight which ran from 12-24May. The full story and pictures inthe next Outlook, including aroundup of new carers andrecruitment throughout 2008.

Anti Bullying Week 16-20 November 2009

More info about events andadvice coming soon.

RAPP (Rights and Participation Project) offer youngpeople in care a independent mentoring service. CindyBrogan, who has used a mentoring service and hasbeen in foster care herself, is the main contact for thescheme. Cindy said:

“Hello my name is Cindyand I am now 23 yearsold and have a daughtercalled Brianna who is 2.

I was in care for about 13 yearsduring which I spent my time in a longterm foster placement and reallybenefited from the stability and thesupport which I received. I firstreceived support from RAPP when Iwas 15 years old, as I was strugglingwith housing problems and the wholeidea of moving from care intoindependence. After I had settled down I then startedlooking at attending training courses, but these didn’treally go well, so I asked RAPP if I could finish myplacement off at RAPP. I’ve now been there since 2003as a trainer and a mentor.

The peer mentoring scheme is a good way to supportthe young people as I can try to relate to them as Ihave been through some similar experiences to them.

It’s about building trust, I know what it is like and myexperiences can help other young people.

So if you know a young person who might benefitfrom talking to someone independent aboutanything, they can talk to me. Sometimesyou don’t want an adult or a social worker,especially if you’re feeling sensitive.

I also want to support foster carers whowant to chat through their experiences of ayoung person with another young personwho has been in foster care - I hope I canoffer some insight.

Young people and foster carers can contactme on 01482 225855 or email me [email protected]”

Cindy is happy to come along to supportgroup meetings and the mentoring schemewill be promoted to young people in foster

and residential care through a newsletter.

For further information on RAPP and the range ofservices it offers visit www.rapp-hull.co.uk orwww.freedomroadcreativearts.co.uk orwww.humbermentoringproject.co.uk.

Mentoring scheme from RAPP

News in brief

6


Route One Youth Centre on HallRoad, Hull Youth Development arecoordinating a group for youngwomen from BME (black ethnicminorities). The group is aimed atyoung women aged 11 - 16 and costs30p a session. Transport can beprovided in some cases.

Recent activities and sessions have included, singing,dancing, cooking, fashion and IT. There is also theopportunity to for days out to try activities such as horseriding. Further sessions are planned around the needs

and wishes of the group which will cover; self esteem,confidence building, and relationships.

Due to the popularity of the sessions and significantsuccess attained within the sessions in addressing someof the aforementioned topics/issues. A decision hasbeen made to make the catchment for the session citywide to encourage other young women to attend.Dependant upon response levels the provision oftransport will be considered.

The session is focused upon young women aged 11-16,with the cost of each session being 30 pence.

For more information or to join, contact Beth VanTilberg on 01482 331238 or [email protected].

Multi cultural group for young women

Freedom Road, the local band madeup of young people who access thecreative arm of RAPP and sistercharity Freedom Road Creative Arts,travelled to Australia in February toparticipate in the CREATEFoundation’s Inaugural YouthSummit which was being held atDarling Harbour, Sydney.

The trip was much more than a holiday as it providedthe young people with a life changing experience thathas impacted heavily on their lives on their return to theUK. One of the members of the group is now back inmain stream school and another member of the band isvisiting local primary schools during her workexperience to talk about the importance of having

dreams and aspirations.

Freedom Road are keen to share their experiencewith other young people who may be inspired to followsuit so please get in touch or read more by visitingwww.freedomroadcreativearts.com

Freedom Road Down Under

7

The Kids in Care Kouncil are developing a pledge forHull City Council. The pledge will be a range ofpromises which the council must provide for childrenand young people who are looked after.

If you want to add your thoughts to the pledge pleasecontact Ian Bolton from RAPP (Rights and ParticipationProject) on 01482 225855 or [email protected].

Kids in Care Kouncil -“KICK” - Views needed! For summer events

and activities in Hull

check out


This document can be made available in other formats(large print, audio and Braille) and different communitylanguages. Please contact 01482 612800 [email protected].

Hull: The family friendly city where no child is left behind

newsletter summer 2009

Tel: 01482 612800/300300email: [email protected] Visit: www.hullcc.gov.uk

The Hull Fostering newsletter for foster carers and their families

Outlook

New central support group to beheld near Endeavour SecondarySchool at the Clifton ChildrenCentre

Free crèche places for childrenover 12 weeks old at the LemonTree Children Centre

Groups open to all fosteringschemes

Please contact Rachel Lodgewith any suggestions for supportgroups

Support groups – new membersalways welcome!

Support groups 2009

North Hull

The Lemon Tree Children’s Centre, Lothian Way, Bransholme1st Monday in month, 9.30am - 11.30amCrèche places availableNaz Khan / Caroline Warville

West Hull

Clifton Children’s Centre2nd Monday in month, 10am - 12pmAnne Dyson / vacancy

East Hull

East HullGallery Pod, Freedom Centre3rd Tuesday in month, 9.30am - 11.30amRachel Lodge /Colin Hopkins

91 Bridge Gate, HowdenLast Wednesday in the month, 9.30 - 11.30amVacancy / Dawn Dunling

East Holderness

Shores, 29 - 31 Seaside Road, With.1st Wednesday in month, 10am - 12pm Anne Dyson / Pat Poole

WestHolderness

The Rainbow Centre, Wheeler Street, 2nd Tuesday in month, 9.30am - 11.30amCrèche places availableAnne Dyson / Pat Bottomley

6

7school holiday

childrenwelcome

13 14

21school holiday

childrenwelcome

15

29school holiday

childrenwelcome

30

1

2school holiday

childrenwelcome

14 8

July Sept

No

mee

tings

in A

ugus

t

Aug


Documents

Hull Test Brochure