We wanted to celebrate a project that our young people have been working on. Over the last couple of years, in line with our Participation work, the agency has been consulting with young people on various topics that impact on their lives. This has included topics such as E-safety, Bullying, Complaints, Education and LAC Reviews. For some time now, there has been a concerted effort to improve our young people’s understanding of the LAC Review process. Our ambition has always been to empower our children and young people to be participants in their journey rather than passengers.
One of the barriers to participation identified by our Speak Up group, is that young people rarely understand the processes around them. They tell us that conversations with social workers may not happen, are full of jargon or simply happen at the wrong time. As we also know, at times our young people can be sceptical of professionals, lack confidence and may feel easily overwhelmed.
With that in mind, our Speak Up Group suggested that to improve participation in this very important process, we could create a simple, concise and short video that outlines what a LAC Review is and the importance of this. They felt that this should also feature young people, to provide authenticity and to make this relatable. Just like that, the seed was planted, and our young people (and staff) got to work…..They contributed to the creation of a script, signed off storyboards and 2 of our young people provided fantastic voiceover work.
We are therefore thrilled to announce that in partnership with Warwick University and Jade Brand Agency, our young people have created Match’s very own LAC Review Guide Animation Video. We are hopeful that in the future we can create a series of these videos regarding all things related to being a child or young person in care.
We are really proud of this achievement and hope that you like the finished product. If you think any of your young people would be interested in participating in similar projects or becoming members of the Speak up Group get in touch with your Supervising Social Worker.
We would love to hear your thoughts, of course your feedback will be shared with our young people!
