West Yorkshire – Local Arts Project

West Yorkshire region is very proud of a 16 year old in placement who has been attending a local Arts Project.  Through the project she has already sold one piece of work and now has another on display in the local art gallery with a price tag over £100!  The Placing local authority are acknowledging these achievements by flying the young person to their Star Awards for looked after children in October.

 

West Yorkshire Region

At the Orange Grove West Yorkshire region we provide arrange of services that encompasses the needs of our foster carers, placing authorities and children and young people who are placed in our care. We have regular monthly foster carer forums where information is shared from a regional and national perspective. The foster carers are provided with monthly supervision and are supported at all statutory meetings involving children in their care.

We regularly organise and supervise children and young people’s consultation days. The last one held took place in April at lightwater valley in Ripon and although very busy the feed back received after the event was very positive.

We provide family support in the form of direct work with children and young people that include life story work and supervising their family contacts as and where required. On a more informal basis our family support work/sessions ensure that children are seen on a regular basis and their views and opinions on their care are listened too.

The West Yorkshire office also organise and attend the annual Orange Grove birth children’s weekend which takes place in July. This year the weekend is taking place in sunny Skegness and the response so far suggests that it will be a full, fun weekend.

As an agency we strive to ensure that we work closely with placing authorities whilst ensuring that the needs of the children and young people in our care are kept central, and that they are supported in meeting their potential in all aspects of their development. We also have a strong commitment in ensuring that our foster carers and staff team are able to access a wide range of training opportunities that will have a positive impact on their roles and responsibilities as foster carers and social workers. One of the main training courses that we provide is the TCIF (Theraputic Crisis Intervention training), the next one in the region is scheduled for the 4^th of May.