Happy New Year ! (Jan 2018)
It was great to see so many people turn up for our first meet up of the new year, lots of new faces too which is always fabulous !
There were no updates this month, other than to mention the impending interest rate rise !
Unfortunately our planned speaker for our first meet up of the year was unable to make it. We did however, have Kerri Massey and her colleague Mike Thomas from Endeavour – Young Persons Company in attendance.
They explained that they work with young people who are in care and those who have been in care and are leaving that environment. Lots of young people leave care and move into 1-2 bedroom properties with no support whatsoever. They as a company, want to place these young people into a property with support. They want to support them with independent learning and support them to stay in education and learning. At the moment social services frequently put young people wherever they can, quite often this is out of the area they live in and have become accustomed to.
Mike explained that young people make real progress in foster care but quite often everything falls apart when they go to live on their own. They want to offer a sense of continuity for the young person by helping them to establish links. Their foster carer and sessional worker will also be on hand to help them and it is hoped that this will lead to better outcomes for these young people.
It is anticipated that they will have ongoing support with weekly workers going into their property. As a company they will pay insurance for the young person so that should any damage be caused to the property, it would be covered by them. At the moment they have 29 young people in foster care and none of them are causing damage to the properties they are staying in.
Social services are responsible at the current time for funding the young person’s placement through their company and they as a company pay the rent. In effect they would act as guarantors for the young person.
They explained that they are currently looking for 1-2 bed properties and would always look to match the young person to the placement. It’s not just a case of putting anyone into the property. In the main they are looking for these properties for 17-18 year olds. They confirmed that foster carers usually remain in contact with the young person when they go to live independently. They don’t encourage young people who are 16 to live independently.
Education is a priority for all of their young persons. Kerri explained about her background as a teacher and about her passion about young people being able to access education. She assists them with this aspect.
If you feel able to help or would like to know more, then please contact Kerri Massey. Her contact details are:-
E-mail:- kerrimassey@hotmail.co.uk
Phone:- 07746 983559