Uncategorized

Maybe I’m naive or eternally optimistic, but I welcome much of what I read in the Department for Education’s new strategy to support young people in care making the transition to independence.  Of course they’re preaching to the converted and I want to shout ‘we’ve been doing that for ages’.  And of course that’s the rub.  We feel we’re experts on mentoring, financial confidence training and empowering young people to make the right decisions for them. We already support them to become better tenants and reduce the high risk of care-leavers becoming homeless.  So how does a tiny organisation like ours get people to listen?  We have some supporters and advocates in Children’s Services in Norfolk and local housing authorities.  And we understand that procurement rules mean they can’t just get us to do these bits of work for them.  But over the coming months we’ll see their staff, who are already stretched, start to foray into this world.  This world is our full-time job, area of expertise and we’ve a substantial evidence base already.  So we’re not asking them to bank roll us, but to let us help you with our expertise and actually achieve these better outcomes for young people some time soon.