On 28th October, we held our Annual Awards ceremony, at the Marriot Hotel in Bexleyheath and what a wonderful event it was. The evening was a complete success, well organised, enjoyable, moving and memorable. Such an event is testament to Chrysalis Care’s ethos of ‘working together’, as staff, foster carers, children and young people and local authority social workers came together in celebration. As one of the Director’s, Sarah Boden-de Mel said in her opening speech:
We all, whoever we are, need to feel loved, appreciated and valued for who we are and what we do and one of the strengths that Chrysalis Care is built upon, is working together as a team. Working together we can all continue to achieve the very best we can - whether as a foster carer, a social worker, children’s services, member of Chrysalis Care staff or as a young person…………let’s celebrate this evening and all applaud our journeys and the work we contribute to succeed in these goals being achieved.
The Awards evening was a fantastic opportunity for foster carers old and new to congregate in recognition for achievements for longevity of service and also commendation for achieving targets related to professional practice. Seeing children and young people thriving and achieving was unbelievably rewarding, achievements ranging from sporting success - running for the country, to gaining a coveted college course place, to massive leaps in English levels, to achieving 100% attendance at school, or becoming a school prefect; Wonderful.
Foster carers who are now confident, experienced and highly skilled, achieving awards for 5, 10, 12 and 15 years service, yet are still remembered as they embarked on their ‘skills to foster’ programme (or as it was for some of them, they were ‘choosing to foster’!), all of those years before.
Children and young people, now standing tall and proud in their achievements, some of them now beginning their journey into independence, yet fondly remembered as small uncertain children who were trying to navigate the unknown territory that was their then ‘new home’.
This was our biggest award ceremony to date and we look forward to many more to come.
Joanna Oliver, Strategic Development Executive.
Wednesday 13 November 2013
Tuesday 22 October 2013
A truly child centred system - at the heart of the matter
Myself and one of the Directors at Chrysalis Care, attended the Fostering Network’s Annual conference last week. I am still reflecting on the panel speeches given by two care-experienced young people from the ‘Who Cares? Trust’, Ashley Williamson and Kevani Kanda.
As someone who has worked with children and young people for more than twenty five years, I know only too well the power of lived experience in conveying what is important. When this is coupled with maturity and crystal clear articulation, no policy or well rehearsed speech can top it.
Ashley and Kevani reached into my heart and spoke the very truth of a truly child centred system in a way that only their experience could provoke. This was the only moment throughout the day that I put down my ‘Ipad’, stopped taking notes and just listened. I listened as Kevani spoke of the legacy of multiple moves upon insecure attachments in her adult relationships. I listened as Ashley told us of the necessity for transparency in communication and how withholding information can cause more harm than good. I listened to myself acknowledging that the message they gave reflects that of so many young people I have met over the years and in how what they implore of us is actually so very, very basic. As Kevani concluded, in spite of the emphasis on financial expenditure and current economic pressures, much of what is needed has no price tag. Thank you for this very courageous reminder of what is at the heart of the matter.
Joanna Oliver, Strategic Development Executive
As someone who has worked with children and young people for more than twenty five years, I know only too well the power of lived experience in conveying what is important. When this is coupled with maturity and crystal clear articulation, no policy or well rehearsed speech can top it.
Ashley and Kevani reached into my heart and spoke the very truth of a truly child centred system in a way that only their experience could provoke. This was the only moment throughout the day that I put down my ‘Ipad’, stopped taking notes and just listened. I listened as Kevani spoke of the legacy of multiple moves upon insecure attachments in her adult relationships. I listened as Ashley told us of the necessity for transparency in communication and how withholding information can cause more harm than good. I listened to myself acknowledging that the message they gave reflects that of so many young people I have met over the years and in how what they implore of us is actually so very, very basic. As Kevani concluded, in spite of the emphasis on financial expenditure and current economic pressures, much of what is needed has no price tag. Thank you for this very courageous reminder of what is at the heart of the matter.
Joanna Oliver, Strategic Development Executive
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Reforming Child Protection
I attended an event at Whitehall the other week, organised by Westminster Education Forum and focused upon ‘reforming child protection’.
What particularly struck me was given that at the core of social work, is reflective and systemic practice, there needs to be much more of a focus upon this as an approach to social work reform. The 'more for less' mantra accompanying austerity measures cannot preclude or excuse the level of interruption presented to effective practice. Unfortunately, 'resource review' includes colleagues bidding against each other for diminishing positions and subsequently working within diminished teams. I recall such an example, at a local authority forum event where a member of their team introduced themselves by name, adding "Last year, I was three people".
Not taking a systemic, reflective approach to social work reform is to deny the necessity of a parallel process from policy and decision makers through to strategists and is evident in the practice of managers and front line professionals, and ultimately in the experiences of children and young people. Perhaps paradoxically, it is those experiences - the real outcomes - that are being inspected and assessed and are the real target we are trying to reach.
Raising social work thresholds and restricting the cash flow to community based services, which are often the invisibly tireless 'early interveners', is creating a bottle neck...where the disparate group in the middle are squeezed off the radar, until tragedy or destruction force a responsive hand. A systemic approach to social work reform requires joining the dots between services, not as an echo of the ongoing rhetoric that is 'working together' but as an acknowledgement of social work in its broadest, deepest, richest, most valuable sense.
Longer version of this published in the event’s transcripts: http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/showpublications.php?pid=534
Joanna Oliver
Strategic Development Executive
What particularly struck me was given that at the core of social work, is reflective and systemic practice, there needs to be much more of a focus upon this as an approach to social work reform. The 'more for less' mantra accompanying austerity measures cannot preclude or excuse the level of interruption presented to effective practice. Unfortunately, 'resource review' includes colleagues bidding against each other for diminishing positions and subsequently working within diminished teams. I recall such an example, at a local authority forum event where a member of their team introduced themselves by name, adding "Last year, I was three people".
Not taking a systemic, reflective approach to social work reform is to deny the necessity of a parallel process from policy and decision makers through to strategists and is evident in the practice of managers and front line professionals, and ultimately in the experiences of children and young people. Perhaps paradoxically, it is those experiences - the real outcomes - that are being inspected and assessed and are the real target we are trying to reach.
Raising social work thresholds and restricting the cash flow to community based services, which are often the invisibly tireless 'early interveners', is creating a bottle neck...where the disparate group in the middle are squeezed off the radar, until tragedy or destruction force a responsive hand. A systemic approach to social work reform requires joining the dots between services, not as an echo of the ongoing rhetoric that is 'working together' but as an acknowledgement of social work in its broadest, deepest, richest, most valuable sense.
Longer version of this published in the event’s transcripts: http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/showpublications.php?pid=534
Joanna Oliver
Strategic Development Executive
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