Participation in society

We want you to have all the chances in life that other young adults have and we will encourage you to develop your interests and get involved in positive activities. People can participate in their communities or in society in different ways and some people want to participate more than others.

We will do our best to find opportunities for you to participate in something that interests you or develop your interests, which you can then pursue independently. We will do this in the following ways:

• by providing information on Leavers Lounge and community participation groups and events clubs you may wish to join
• encouraging you to take part in Leavers Come First, Monthly Care Experienced Young People's Forum and National Care Leavers Week. This will allow you to directly influence service developments for you and other young people who are care experienced
• you will have the opportunity to feed into our Corporate Parenting Panel through our Young Person's Panel to ensure that the voice of care experienced young people is heard
• you can act as a Peer Mentor, supporting other care experienced young people
• if you help us with consultation, interviews, or other engagement activities you will be paid in the form of vouchers at a rate of the national minimum wage for your age
• we will help you take part in events and activities such as the Summer Arts Project (up to the age 19) and the Hot Shots Awards, and attend the celebration events for these
• informing you about relevant awards, schemes and competitions you can enter, in line with your talents and interests
• encouraging and helping you to enrol on the Electoral Register, so you can vote in elections
• encouraging you to tell us how we are doing and any areas you think we can get better at through surveys written by care experienced young people
• informing and possibly helping you with the cost of leisure activities, and ensuring you make use of our free leisure provision at our borough centres
• informing you about voluntary work that we think you may be interested in
• giving you advice and helping you to challenge any discrimination you face as a care experienced young person
• Virgin Media's social value commitment to Telford Care Experienced young people, has provided a digital learning fund and a grant to purchase a number of smart phones, laptops and dongles to keep you connected and in touch with important relationships and key services.
• Your PA can support you to access the Databank offer (free mobile data, texts and calls via a sim card
  • For someone to be eligible to receive one of the sims, they must:
    • be 18+ years old 
    • and be from a low income household.
  • And qualify in one or several of the following statements: 
    • has no access or insufficient access to the internet at home
    • and/or has no or insufficient access to the internet when away from the home 
    • and/or cannot afford their existing monthly contract or top up.

National forums

National forums you can join, these forums provide young people with the opportunity to have a voice in shaping services and decisions making.

• Visit the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) website
• Visit the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) website

View financial information on our money matters page.

Last updated: 12/07/2023 12:18