Child Friendly Warwickshire

Warwickshire County Council’s annual Care Experienced Celebration Day took place last week, and this year over 80 children and young people attended a fantastic day filled with food, fun and laughter.  

The event usually falls during or close to Care Leavers’ Week and is organised by a passionate working group of colleagues from the Participation, Fostering, Targeted Youth Support, Quality and Impact and Children and Families teams. Liss Phillips, Family Support Worker at Warwickshire County Council, is part of this group. Being care-experienced herself, Liss has first-hand knowledge of the particular challenges facing care leavers, “I didn’t have the easiest start in life, so I am determined to make a difference for other care experienced children and young people in Warwickshire.”  

The day was a great success with children and families attending in the morning, and older young people joining the celebrations in the afternoon, with their personal advisors, social workers and other staff. There were a variety of activities on offer, including face painting, inflatable obstacles, soft archery and henna! Some young people commented that they had never attended a WCC event before, but that they had really enjoyed the day and had made some new friends.

Many of the prizes available for the more competitive activities were graciously donated by friends of Child Friendly Warwickshire. These included:

• 4 tickets for the next Playbox Theatre production
• A Clip’n’Climb voucher from Everyone Active
• Backpacks, stationery, notebooks and water bottles from EQuIP
• 200 books for all ages from Own Books
• Colouring books from the Community Rail Partnership
• Over 50 bags of food for care leavers to take home with them, donated and packed by Morrisons
• With thanks to The Fun Experts for providing the inflatable activities!

Commenting on the success of the event, Liss said,

“A lot of time and effort goes into setting up and hosting events like these, so I was very pleased to see so many young people having fun and enjoying themselves because it really does make it all worth it to just see that. It is about them, us, and what we are able to do no matter what comes our way in life!

“We appreciate that life can get hard, and we just wanted to give them a break from that to have a little fun, appreciate what they have achieved and socialise with others who share similar experiences. Being with young people at events like these can be the highlight of my year and I appreciate everyone's support in getting them there! I hope the day was just as good for them as it was for us seeing them all and having a laugh." 

One carer who attended with children said, “This was a really wonderful event so a big thank you to all those who helped to organise, set it up and run the various activities. It looks like Christmas in our house now and the children are really happy. Thank you all.”

Speaking about the Care Experienced Celebration Day, Councillor Jeff Morgan, portfolio holder for Children's Services at Warwickshire County Council, added: “I am really proud of everyone who worked so hard to make this event happen. These events and other initiatives to support care leavers make a huge difference to the lives of children and families. It was a pleasure to attend with Monica Fogarty, Chief Executive Officer of the Council.” 

Warwickshire County Council is committed to nurturing and sustaining a positive future for all care experienced children and young people. For more information, visit warwickshire.gov.uk/leavingcare or follow @WeCare_Warks on Twitter for regular updates.