Evaluation of Five Rivers London & East Fostering Service
Tuesday 11 September 2018
Recently, the Five Rivers office in Harold Wood hosted a visit from Investing in Children. An IiC project worker met and interviewed the London and East team, a number of children and their foster carers.
The purpose of the visit was to find ‘Evidence of Dialogue and Change’ – for the Investing in Children Membership Award™ which recognises the work of organisations that promote children’s rights.
Here are 3 highlights of the evaluation:
Participation in democracy and running the organisation
Young people from London and East are in the Five Rivers National Youth Council – a democratic group created, run and developed by children and young people who live with Five Rivers Fostering families.
Some of the things they have done:
- Attending Youth Council residential weekends
- Featuring in a film about religious diversity for sharing with the organisation
- Getting trained in Peer Mentoring
- Recent care leavers sitting on a recruitment panel for new foster carers
- Having a voice
- Five Rivers young people in care are promoting the rights and voices of young people: e.g.
- A young parent in care is writing a book about her experiences
- A birth child feels involved and valued by the organisation
- A child rights activist is lobbying for Children’s Rights at the Houses of Parliament
Feeling safe and supported
Young people said they felt supported. Individual social workers and the local manager were singled out for high praise by children and carers. The London and East social programme was highly rated by children and foster carers.
Five Rivers is a Fostering Service which supports foster cares and young people in care all over the country. The Service is split into different geographic locations and this Membership Evaluation is for the London and East area. Five Rivers regularly provides children and young people in care within their service the opportunity to participate in dialogue resulting in change in order to ensure the service they provide meets the needs and expectations of the children.
Find out more: https://five-rivers.org/fostering/participation/
Investing in Children Membership Award™ is a registered Trademark™. Investing in Children provides research and participation services to organisations that work with children and young people. The purpose is the effective promotion of the human rights of children and young people. Find out more: http://www.investinginchildren.net