16+ Forum

We Meet monthly on the third Tuesday of the month at Warren court- Join us!

Feb 2023

This month we discussed

• Activities for the year, we would like to do a seaside trip, an escape room and sports

• Lessening the shock of the move to independence

• The importance of Brothers and Sisters staying together

January 22In this session we had a special guest Donna Heppenstall, a specialist leaving care worker who is also now a senior Personal Adviser.  We talked about what makes a good PA.

Three young people delivered challenging stereotypes training to Professionals in Wakefield They got great feedback.

The outcome of this session was to touchdown on what the young people thought to make's a good PA and for the young people to feedback what they achieved from the training.

February

This session was about getting the group up to date with the latest updates, Donna shared that Next Steps are wanting to create 12-week program focussing on independent skills

The young people fedback their thoughts around this and gave Donna examples of how she could get more young people to participate in the 12-week course 

The outcome of this session was to ensure all young people knew about what was going on around them and to think of some ideas that could increase participation in other fields

March

A session around funding opportunities  the young people were made aware of the funding that is available. Some young people said that they would like funding for “Computers for warren court,” “Wi-fi at placements," and “Furniture for Warren Court's outside seating area," all with facts highlighting why funding should be made available, The outcome of this session was to make all present feel a part of how and where funding is spent.

June

In this session we had a special guest, Steven Hawksworth who is a newly qualified social worker, Steven is also grew up in foster care.

Steven spoke about how been in foster care came with some setbacks to getting to higher education but he was always determined to achieve what he knew he wanted.  The outcome of this session was to show to the group that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what your story is,  you can achieve anything you put your mind to.

Unfortunately due to the current circumstances with covid and everyone also having other commitments there hasn’t been many 16+ meetings.

As we now get back to normality the 16+ forum is taking off again and we can't wait to see each and everyone of you.