Member News from Young People at Heart: From Social Work Assistant to Fully Qualified Social Worker!16/2/2024
In March 2019 I started working here at Young People at Heart as a Social Work Assistant. Before this role, I had worked in many different jobs and been unhappy in most of them. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I fit in. I had always been interested in the world of social work, and wanted a career that meant something to me, but I thought I had left it too late and couldn’t imagine going back to education after so many years of working. One day I just decided to go for it and I signed myself up to the Open University and enrolled in the Social Work degree course. I remember thinking how far off in the distance qualifying seemed and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d even make it the whole way through! Just a couple of months later, before my course had even started, I saw the job advertisement at Young People at Heart for the Social Work Assistant role and genuinely couldn’t believe my luck. I was extremely keen, I applied for the job immediately and even rang Gary to let him know how interested I was in the role! I came in for a couple of interviews and was over the moon when I was offered the job. It took a little while for me to get comfortable in my new career. As someone who has not yet had children and has never worked with children and young people before, there were so many things I just didn’t know. I had no idea about car seats or routines and often had to ask for help and guidance! Luckily for me I had a supportive team around me who were happy to help and teach me along the way. I have learned so much over the years just from working with, and observing, the people who work here and I am extremely grateful to them for that. I was also learning a lot from my social work course which I was completing alongside working every day. It was challenging, and I found it difficult sometimes to study after a day at work, but I also loved ticking off the milestones as I completed each stage of the course. As part of the social work course, I had to complete two placements: the first for 70 days and the second for 100. I completed both of my placements within Young People at Heart, supported organisation-wide by many members of staff. It was during these placements that I really got an insight into the social work role and what it would be like when I finally qualified! I really appreciated the experience I gained from doing these placements and felt lucky to work with people who have so much experience and who are so good at what they do! I often found myself thinking ‘I hope I can do that one day!’ As time went on my role started to change at work, and I took on some social work duties. This was amazing for my learning and really helped to prepare me for the transition into a social work role. The last year of my degree was really hard work, but I was incredibly fortunate to have been supported by Young People at Heart with extra time to complete my studies and advice along the way when I needed it. I finally completed my degree and received my results on 17th July 2023. It was a great day and I was so happy (and relieved that it was over!) I attended my graduation ceremony on 17th November, surrounded by family and friends who all put up with me and my mood swings throughout my studying! It was an amazing day and I felt truly proud of myself and all that I had accomplished. Now that I have qualified and received my Social Work England registration, I am starting my social work career as a Supervising Social Worker here at Young People at Heart. I still have a lot to learn along the way but this feels like a full circle moment, and I am just grateful that 25 year old me with no social work experience was given a chance! The practical experience I gained taught me way more than a text book ever could, and I look forward to continuing to learn throughout my career. Source: hwww.youngpeopleatheart.org The relationship between siblings is one of the most important relationships within a child’s life, and we work hard to support and promote this relationship where possible. Recently we had a young person join us, following a separation of his siblings and entering care for the first time. A few months later, we were asked to see if it was possible for the young person’s sibling to move in with our foster carer and enable the two children to live together. Following a visit, an overnight stay and time spent within the household, we were able to assess if this was a positive and suitable option, whilst considering the needs of everyone in the household. It is with a very happy heart, that following this we were able to support this request and following a successful transition that the two siblings are now able to live together. Promoting this relationship is key and statistically will provide a higher chance of better outcomes for both children. They will be able to spend their childhood together, enjoy life experiences and build memories in partnership with one another. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org One of our social work assistants started working with a young person weekly to focus on positive relationships, feelings, and online safety. We started the Real Love Rocks project in April, this project focuses on feelings, bodies, brains, positive and healthy relationships, and online safety. At this time, the young person did not want to engage with the SWA, and his future aspirations were to sit in his bedroom and play the PlayStation forever. This young person also struggled to talk about his feelings, he had struggled with hygiene and having positive relationships at home and school. During this time, the SWA spent time building a relationship with the young person alongside working on the Real Love Rocks project, she spent time trying to understand the reasons behind the young person’s anxieties about his future. Fast forward 6 months of weekly support, the young person has completed all his practice mock exams at school, which is a huge achievement as 6 months ago he was spending a lot of time outside of lessons and his relationships with his carers and teachers has improved. On top of that, he recently attended an engineering apprenticeship evening where he has displayed interest in doing an engineering apprenticeship after finishing his GCSEs. One of the biggest struggles for this young person was talking to adults about his future, he used to become very anxious. However, at the engineering apprenticeship evening, this young person spoke openly to the recruiters, spoke about his interests and what he is currently doing for GCSEs. After the event, the young person felt really proud of himself and said he feels positive about his future. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/ We have been Foster Carers for nearly 7 years and fostered children of many different ages. We have cared for two babies who have gone on to be adopted, and both experiences were very different. When the outcome of court is that children are going to be adopted, you have the hardest part in saying goodbye but also the joy of seeing children move on with their new parents. Each time, it will cross your mind about adopting them yourselves which you can be asked to do by their social worker. But for us, our age played a big part in our decision not to, and also knowing there are so many people looking to adopt who cannot have children of their own. We had Belle from 7 days old to 22 months old, she was so tiny. Zoe, we cared for from 13 months old, for around eight months. During the time we cared for them, we saw them meet many milestones and worked alongside birth parents. Once adopters have been identified, you spend time working with them and the child during introductions, where the child and adopters are in a period of transition. This is an intensive time where we help the adopters and children get to know each other and become a family, spending time at their home and the adopters at yours. When the adopters do their training, they are told how important (especially at the start) it is for them to keep in touch with the foster carers even if it’s just a video call to help the children with transition and developing new attachments. When your young people leave to go to their adoptive homes, they take a piece of your heart with them, but when you see how happy they are with their new parents, you see it is the right thing and how special it is. Our first adoption with Zoe went amazingly well, they were all so happy and we have kept in touch with her new family via photos, videos etc. Zoe is now 6 and we meet up every year, and send birthday and Xmas presents and they send us videos of her opening them, she knows she used to live with us and we have the best time when we see her. When Belle left us, our experience was different, ongoing contact with Belle was planned once a year and occasional photos. However, the adopters decided they did not want ongoing contact shortly after she left which broke our hearts, particularly after such a different experience the first time. We were lucky that we did get to see her once since she left but we will treasure the memories and time we spent with her and always remember the positive impact we had on her life. We have learnt that endings for every child can be very different, and each situation is unique and may not always be the ending you would like it to be. However, we continue to enjoy fostering babies, watching them grow and develop but know they will leave to live with family or adoptive parents, but every day spent with any child you foster they are part of your family no matter how long they stay with you. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/ This feel-good Friday we are celebrating National Care leavers Week. An 18th Birthday is a celebration for most teenagers, but it can be a worrying time for the 10,000 young people in the UK leaving care who suddenly become independent. Before they can be independent, we need to give children in care opportunities to be interdependent. At some point, usually during their teenage years, children in care will hear discussions of what happens after care. Initially, it may be when another young person they know or an older child, has moved to independence or talked about by their social workers. Then, when they are around 15 years old, they are told they must start preparing for independence. They must learn ‘life skills’ because ‘there won’t be anyone there to do it for you when you move to independence’. But doing that is sending out a message ‘You are on your own.’ Therefore, many young people seem to reject much of the care offered to them, never fully trusting it, preferring instead to trust the relationships and associates we often consider unhealthy or harmful. They rush towards being independent too, insisting they are ready, saying they should be allowed to go now. We need to change our entire thinking about how young people in care move into adulthood and the messages we are giving them from an early age. They need to have a sense that some key relationships are for keeps. We need to let them know that, no, they will not be on their own and , they do not have to be independent. Instead, they can be interdependent. We start this work a lot earlier with our young people and foster carers and allow our children to seek support from their carers and support workers to ensure they know they are not alone and will continue to be supported into their life journey. So they have a sense of belonging and understanding that they can ask for help and be supported as they leave care and beyond. We do this through developing an independence plan with the young person and working through key ‘life skills’ such as:
It is key to be supported with these skills to develop self-esteem and resilience to manage living independently in the future. Here at Young People at Heart we are implementing a pre-teen drop in next year, talking about independence to our carers and children to change their thinking at a much earlier stage. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/national-care-leavers-week/ Kyle came to our foster carers having previously experienced a lot of placement moves along with having a high level of trauma-based behaviours. Through the commitment and resilience of his foster carers, Kyle has now been with his foster family for seven years, is able to manage his behaviours, self-regulate and has a sense of belonging in the family. Kyle bravely engaged in life story work with our Social Work Assistants that gave him understanding of the reasons of why he came into care. He was able to demonstrate reflection, understanding and maturity through this process. Kyle continually displays how far he has come as he is able to express empathy, patience and understanding with other young people who have lived with his foster family. The understanding and safety Kyle has experienced with his foster family has consequently supported him to engage and achieve in school. He previously had very poor school attendance, escaping onto the roof or climbing the fences. But through hard work and dedication has been able to achieve academically and now attends a mainstream college whilst being a keen boxer and is committed to his fitness and training. The growth of both Kyle and the foster family has been remarkable to watch but through the continuous struggles, efforts and devotion it is safe to say that the Kyle that came to us 7 years ago is unrecognisable to the one we see today. Through the trauma of many moves we are delighted that we can be his last placement with Kyle wishing to remain with his foster family after he is 18. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/ As we are now in September and all of our young people are back at school, we have been thrilled to receive all the photographs of our children and young people looking so smart in their uniforms – there have been lots of ‘firsts’ to celebrate which have been lovely to hear about. This feel-good Friday however, we are reflecting on the summer holiday period. Our Foster Carers and children love to tell us about all the experiences they have had, and we in turn love to share these amongst us in our team meetings and add them to our ever-growing good news tree! Many of our children have lots of anxieties and worries given their past traumas so we have been so proud of some of the achievements we have heard about over the past few weeks and here are just a few! One of our young people who can struggle with anxiety, has learned how to canoe by herself – wearing a wet suit and learning how to use the paddles. Two of our younger children, after lots of practice, near misses and encouragement from their Foster Carers have mastered riding their bikes without stabilisers. We were sent wonderful videos of their bike riding and we are all so proud that they have reached this milestone. We have had news that another of our young people, after a holiday consisting of lots of swimming, can now swim without armbands. The same child who can struggle in social situations also made lots of friends on the holiday which was an indicator of how much her confidence has increased. At Young People at Heart, we believe that swimming and bike riding are fundamental life skills that should be afforded to all children and young people and as such we ensure that funding is available for a bicycle for all our young people, and to pay for swimming lessons to enable our children to swim to 10 meters. Our carers have also shared many other positive stories about their young people such as one young person learning a new piano piece, two children doing really well in kickboxing and another child being complimented by the post lady for lovely manners. All these achievements, no matter how significant indicate dedication, commitment, and progress in all our young people. Our Foster Carers work tirelessly, not only on the key milestones, but on the other day to day skills that we all need to manage generally within society. We are so proud of our young people and never cease to be amazed at how they consistently exceed expectations! Source: youngpeopleatheart.org This Feel-Good Friday [8th September] we are celebrating International Literacy Day 2023. This year’s theme is ‘Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies’. It looks to highlight the significance of literacy and numeracy in helping individuals and communities, as well as to encourage people to develop and improve their skills worldwide. Despite progress being made across the world, it’s thought that at least 750 million young people and adults lack basic literacy skills, like reading and writing. Although here at Young People at Heart many of our young people come to us not meeting their age-related targets in core subjects including reading, we are so pleased that our foster carers and staff team are able to support their young people in improving skills such as phonics and reading to get them to a point of reading unaided and going on to surpass expectations (which has recently been outlined in some brilliant exam results)! We are so grateful to work closely with the National Literacy Trust, who are an independent charity dedicated to giving children the literacy skills they need to succeed. Due to the brilliant work they do, we can give our young people a new book to keep and enjoy reading, every few weeks. The Literacy Corners in our offices are kept nice and full for our young people to come in and choose a book.
What are the benefits of reading to children? Bonding Reading provides a wonderful opportunity for you and a young person to connect. It’s a nice way to spend time together and slow down during an otherwise hectic day. Plus, people who have a positive attitude toward books and reading in turn help their children view literacy in a positive way. Listening skills Hearing a story read aloud involves some level of comprehension on a young person’s part. And comprehension is dependent on paying attention — in other words, listening skills. Cognitive and language development Reading books to young people helps expand the number and variety of words they use. The books you read can often contain words you might not otherwise use in your everyday communications. While reading a book, you might end up using more specific names for different plants or animals or use more adjectives. Attention span Reading to children helps them develop key concentration and self-discipline skills. Creativity Books and stories open up a whole new world to a young person. Yes, there are plenty of nonfiction books on dinosaurs, bugs, and airplanes. Fiction stories, though, go beyond the real world and employ fantasy elements that get kids thinking outside the box. Children have vivid imaginations as is, so reading serves to further feed their creativity. Life lessons Books provide an opportunity to talk about real-world situations in age-appropriate ways. Young people especially enjoy books that feature children their own ages doing things they do in everyday life. Along with modelling what happens in various situations, reading books on targeted subjects may help children not feel alone when they deal with something new, like moving, or something potentially uncomfortable, like going to the dentist. Reading stories about potentially emotional situations, like starting at a new school, can help get a conversation going and show children that their feelings are normal. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/ Amanda, one of our Social Work Assistants in Essex set up The Children’s Court Room Project with Judge Shanks who has been serving as a family Judge for the past 25 years, we believe that every young person coming into care or living in care and having life story work should know where decisions are made about them. For some young people Court is a scary place and is only talked about in meetings. So, we wanted to change this and allow children to see a Court room and meet a Judge that makes these important decisions. Judge Shanks will talk through what happens, where everybody sits, who attends court and how they then make their final decisions. In our Essex team 7 children have had this opportunity to visit the court room, with great feedback from them, saying ‘it was fun’ and ‘I loved sitting in the Judges chair’, ‘I know it’s a nice place and we are loved’ ‘I now know why it takes so long as it a very important decision’. These visit makes a young person feel like they also have a voice and are being heard, it visually helps them understand what is happening and who is making decisions about their future. We are also offering a virtual tour of the court room to all our foster carers so they can be aware of the process that happens in court, to allow them to offer support and be able to answer any questions that the young people may have. Source: www.youngpeopleatheart.org/ Our feel-good Friday story this week is all about the brilliant work our Hereford team has done creating an allotment to give our foster families and young people opportunities to meet and connect with other families whilst offering a great way of spending time with nature and being able to encourage, observe and enjoy wildlife. Children are fascinated by the process of how things grow and are even more excited by being able to taste what they have harvested. Growing vegetables requires gaining knowledge and new skills and the satisfaction gained from eating their first grown vegetable makes them taste even more delicious– which is why allotment gardening is perfect for curious minds and mouths! And with the cost of living increasing a few free fruit and vegetables can’t go a miss! Kayleigh our Social Work Assistant, who leads the allotment project often offers support to our Foster Carers by taking their young people out for activities, which often involves a trip to the allotment. An activity to encourage children to lead a healthier lifestyle, allowing them to grow healthy foods and engage in extra physical activity along with many other benefits. Children who have planted seeds and watch a crop grow are much more likely to eat vegetables routinely and establish healthy eating habits. This year we have strawberries, mint, potatoes, pumpkins, leaks, carrots, swede, beetroot, cabbage, and lettuce growing as well as lots of flowers. The proven mental health benefits of spending time outdoors are increasingly being noted with studies showing that nurturing plants and observing nature makes people feel calmer. Whilst gardening is educational it also allows our young people to develop new skills including responsibility, understanding, self-confidence, teamwork and communication which is something many of our young people who come to us struggle with. Gardening encourages our young people to stimulate all five senses. We have lots of flowers planted for sensory purposes. Sensory play by feeling the texture of the soil, the flowers, the petals, and seeds can be very beneficial for a young person’s development. It provides emotional regulation by providing a calming effect on children’s angry or anxious feelings. Develops fine motor skills through tactile play and handling tiny seeds and helps our young people understand how their actions affect what’s around them. Having our allotment also allows us a place to occasionally host our Coffee and Craft Mornings for our foster carers, where they made a bug hotel and bird feeders. We hope to have lots of residents in our bug hotel as identifying butterflies, going on bug hunts and listening to bird songs are all things which can capture a child’s imagination while helping out on the plot. Working our plot year- round means we experience the seasons, witness the behaviour of birds, insects, and other animals, and gain an understanding of the eco-system. This appreciation of the natural world also has the potential to inspire more environmentally aware behaviour by our young people as well as giving us a chance to reuse a few household or garden items and reduce our waste. Not only does our allotment benefit our foster families and young people but it gives our Hereford team a space where they can go for their staff wellbeing sessions and allows a little team building as they get together to help rake, weed and maintain the allotment all year round. |
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