Hi, Shannon and Laura here! We are going to be talking a bit about today’s JAM to let you guys know how today went and what went down!
So we started setting up at 9.30 to begin at 10am so that people had a little time to settle into their groups. Gayle and Fiona were today’s hosts and great ones at that considering it’s their first JAM. So the groups had been given some ice- breakers, oh how we love them (luckily we didn’t have to join in). We then had the opportunity to listen to a few inspirational speakers who spoke about their experiences and why they feel that relationships truly do matter for both young people and their workers.
After a quick refreshment break for some tea and coffee, the groups were given an hour for an ‘understand’ session, to give them time to talk about their chosen barriers and try and understand them from different perspectives. Within the next hour the groups had to take some ideas and think about one that they would take to the ‘create’ session. By this point people seemed a bit more settled and had a little more emotion on their faces.
So now we need to write about the different sessions from throughout the day and what the different teams came up with.
1. Falkirk Council will be the first group that we will talk about and what was discussed and what the outcome was that they came up with. The barrier that they had was ‘Needing Permission’ and they spoke about how young people feel that there was not enough love. One of the barriers they spoke about within their group was fear and how some workers/carers feel like they don’t know how to express their professional love that they have for young people as there is the big issue of accusations and also misperceptions. They also had a discussion about what was acceptable and the conclusion that they came up with was to use SSSC codes of practice of what is a professional relationship and this focuses on scandals, accusations etc. They then went on to talk about the ‘create’ session and a young person’s statement was “I want to be able to keep in touch with the staff I want and for that to be ok” . They came up with certain ways of keeping the relationship after leaving care and these were:
- How to keep in touch plan: Pledge (from organisation to young people), individual plan, what this means for staff and also a pledge of support to staff.
- Be committed to support: Young people maintain beyond their plan for as long as they want/need. Both young people and staff will arrange support for a day and within certain hours etc and these will be stuck to by both sides.
- Young people and the people that they want to keep in touch with with through how they want to keep in touch and it will be discussed how this will happen, when this will happen, and what’s realistic about what we are hoping that’s going to happen.
The outcome that they came up with to solve this boundary was that they are going to develop a personalised relationship plan for each young person.
2. The next group is Hot Chocolate and their barrier was ‘Where is the love?’
The first question that they asked was: How do we promote a sense of love as professionals? They said that the best way was to talk about it. They then went on to talk about what was the line as a professional and some of the answers were things like: gender, awkwardness, level of relationships that young people and workers have and also that they both feel comfortable around each other.
Young person’s answers: How do you demonstrate love? Going out for a nice lunch together, having fun and cheeky banter, having patience and consistency, given responsibility (given a digital camera for a week, running an open night), having ownership of belongings etc., having some quality time together as worker and young person, for example, going to the cinema to see a film that you are both interested in.
There needs to be recognition of how much love a young person wants/needs.
The outcome that they came up with to solve this boundary was to challenge perceptions of love and what they mean to each young person.
3. The third group was Kibble and their boundary was ‘personal and professional boundaries’
They spoke about risk and some of the risks that may be involved and they said understanding, making attachments, attachments getting broke, and also awareness.
They made a chart called the building block and came up with ideas that were important to them. Some of the important things to them were money, trust, space, choice, perceptions, accountability, challenge the system (someone to talk to), time, commitment and dedication, routine, self esteem, team work, life skills, responsibility and also to care and love you.
The outcome they came up with to solve their boundary was to challenge the current process of disengagement and the negative language we use.
4. The fourth group was Includem and the barrier that they were given was ‘life has ups and downs’.
This group was looking at different ways to support young people in their transition out of Includem services.
Some ways that they came up with to keep in contact with young people after leaving were very good and some of these were keeping in contact by, text,having a mentor, meeting face to face, email, drop in, having a helpline for young people to phone when ever they are need advice etc, coffee catch up, having reunions and fair days. A young person expressed some of the things that he thinks should be there and they are photo booth, making your own key rings, a silent disco etc.
The outcome that this group came up with to solve the barrier was banishing the work exit and going to develop a hemline system or regular check systems with care leavers.
5. The last group that was here today was Care Visions and their barrier was ‘judgement from others’
One of the massive things that came out of this group was trust.
Some of the things that they spoke about were that they need a young people’s conference with only young people’s voices.
Having agencies come together with young people and really listen, understand the risk balances with trust, understand that boundaries move with young people as they grow. A question that they have asked is: Why not evaluate by CELCIS to provide evidence?
They spoke about how they feel and that funding seems to be a big issue for staff to keep in contact. A young person stated “Money shouldn’t be an issue as young people who were told directly that funding was going to stop so the staff wouldn’t be able to continue in my life”. Young people should NOT be told that money is a boundary because it shouldn’t be.
Young people in care struggle with relationships without being told that they have to ask managers permission to keep in contact.
The outcome that they came up with was to promote natural relationships which should be lead by the young person.
The plan of action from each groups at the end of the day was:
Care Visions: Moral adoption – life long commitment to a family of the young person’s choice. Young people are ambassadors for change.
Falkirk Council: Personalised plan for individual young people managed through supervision (Staff). Recruitment of appropriate staff.
Hot Chocolate: What does love look like? Series of short films – National campaign
Includem: Check-in system- regular calls to care leavers- welfare calls
Overall, all five teams presented their plan of action extremely well and showed us their passion to support our goal of relationships matter. Everyone deserves to have a friend, so why can’t these relationships be kept when a young person leaves care. Today has been successful in our opinion and we hope to see these groups take action and for progress in the near future.
Thanks to everyone who attended today and also thank you for your input.