This week we chat to Kingston not-for-profit Achieving For Children which focuses on supporting children and young people to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives, providing children’s services for Kingston Council.
We hear all about the stigmas surrounding young people who enter the care system and the challenges they face, as well as how Achieving For Children is working to improve employment outcomes for them through their Better Futures Event.
“Someone once asked me, on the first day of my new job, what I did to get put in care and it upset me so much that I didn’t work again for six months”.
Care Leaver.
Comments like these help to highlight how much we, as a community, have to learn when it comes to the support we offer young people who enter the Care system. Nearly all become looked-after due to harm they have received or have seen and it is our responsibility to ensure that they succeed because they came into care not in spite of coming into care.
Achieving for Children’s role is to provide the social care our young people need. Whether that’s therapeutic support, housing or helping with finding education, they are there to perform the role that many of us, as parents, friends or relatives of a young person take for granted.
And whilst the outcomes for our young people are improving, we all have a responsibility, as their Corporate Parents is to help them to become happy, thriving and independent members of our community.
One way to help young people is to also help yourself and therefore benefit as a local employer at a time where recruitment and retention is a challenge.
To achieve this AfC Virtual School and College has launched the Better Futures Event. The aim is to help Business leaders develop further recruitment streams and also to introduce the benefits of supporting care leavers and enabling them to thrive.
Please contact: Michael.guard@achievingforchildren.org for event information or to book a place.
We love hearing from our members how things are going. If you would like to write a Member Spotlight, drop an email to emma.norman@kingstonfirst.co.uk.
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