Personal Advisers for young care leavers presented prestigious award at Full Council meeting
A team of Personal Advisers from Shropshire Council’s leaving care team were today (Thursday 13 January 2022) presented with a national award for their support for young people who have left care, at the Full Council meeting.
The team of 10, who had been nominated by their manager, won National Team of the Year at the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) awards. The awards recognise and celebrate the achievement of staff and young people across the UK, and shine a light on the outstanding Personal Advisers up and down the country who go out of their way to support care leavers.
Personal Advisers outside the Full Council meeting, with Vince Hunt, Chairman of the Council, on lefthand side of photo.
Personal Advisers work with young people who have spent part of their childhoods being cared for by their extended families, foster carers or in children’s homes. The team support young people between 18 and 25, and include unaccompanied asylum seeking young people who have become 18. They support them to live independently and guide them to manage their finances, tenancy, study and employment opportunities as well as support them emotionally. It is not unusual for the Personal Advisers to be the only positive relationship a young person has.
When the pandemic took hold in March 2020, the team met to talk through how they would support the young people as they were concerned about them being isolated, lonely, or becoming ill. The team agreed to go above and beyond their call of duty and commit themselves to providing the same around the clock support as they would their own children.
Personal Advisers outside the Full Council meeting, with Vince Hunt, Chairman of the Council, on lefthand side of photo.
The team ensured they were contactable for the young children until late at night and at weekends, so they could contact them when they needed to. The Personal Advisers continued to visit young people face to face, or virtually if that was what the individual wanted, and provided practical support with food and moving home. Team members also supported those who are continuing to work throughout the pandemic as a key worker, and those who were either furloughed or made redundant, and supported them to find work.
Vince Hunt, Chairman of the Council, who presented the award to Tracie Weston, team manager, on behalf of the team, said:-
“As a council we are a Corporate Parent to over 583 children and 184 care leavers, many of whom who have had challenging or traumatic start to their lives.
“Despite such experiences, with the support of our children’s services we continue to see how many of our young people overcome such trauma and become well-rounded, confident and independent people, who become active citizens in their own communities.
“I am delighted that our support for young people has been recognised nationally, and so proud to be able to present our Personal Advisers with such a prestigious award.
“Like any parent we have big aspirations for our children and young people, and are immensely proud of their incredible achievements. This is why, today at Full Council, we wanted to invite our Personal Advisers and staff together to celebrate the work they have done to support these young people. Their dedication, compassion and commitment have in no doubt helped many a young care leaver to lead a more positive and stable life.
“I would therefore like to personally thank our Personal Advisers – Adam Young, Adam Jones, Barbara Vernon, Bryan Davies, Dave Warren, Molly Hassall, Helen Irvine, Nicky Conway, Nikki Shingler and Tom Mosley – for their incredible work. Congratulations to all of you.”
The team of Personal Advisers also helped young people who needed to self-isolate, and to ensure they understood the restrictions in the three Lockdowns, what was happening, and making sure they had food, medication and a contact to call.
Personal Advisers: their Award
By providing this bespoke service during the pandemic, many young people’s anxieties and feelings of loneliness were reduced, as they were able to contact their Personal Advisers when they needed to, which helped reduce their feelings of isolation. This also enabled the young people to manage their mental and emotional health needs. Personal Advisers also continued to visit their young people throughout 2020, and maintained as much face to face contact that they could under the circumstances.
Kirstie Hurst-Knight, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children and education, added:-
“I am absolutely delighted that our Personal Advisers and the leaving care team joined us today to celebrate their fantastic achievement.
“Our Personal Advisers are a team of highly skilled, talented and committed workers who care about the young people they support.
“Their incredible dedication and determination to provide support to the county’s young people throughout the pandemic was recognised at these prestigious awards.
“This invaluable service, providing levels of care as if they were their own children, has made such a positive impact on young lives. We are incredibly proud of their achievement of being National Personal Adviser Team of the year.”
To adhere to coronavirus guidelines, the award was presented by Vince Hunt, Chairman of the Council, to Tracie Watson, team manager, who had nominated the team for the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) awards.
