Ever Thought About Being A Foster Carer?

Image taken from the Any of Us film

Yesterday I was pleased to attend a Fostering event held in Horsham and as a West Sussex County Councillor, I am keen to help spread the word about how great fostering can be. Below I've reproduced the press release issued by West Sussex County Council today. There are two links at the foot of the article, one to the Fostering West Sussex website and the other to the Any of Us short film that is well worth watching.

 

News release 28 September 2023

 "My biggest regret is that we didn’t do it sooner" - Horsham event promotes fostering in West Sussex

 West Sussex County Council leaders joined foster carers and care experienced young people yesterday (27 September) at Horsham’s The Capitol Theatre to support and promote fostering across the county.  

Attendees heard about the challenge of finding local carers for the growing number of children in care and how the impact this has. Councillors were called upon to become Fostering Ambassadors and were able to speak to foster carers about their day-to-day experiences and the many amazing outcomes they have achieved. A photography exhibition, Through Our Eyes: Life in Care, helped to highlight the positive impact that carers have had on the lives of young people, several of whom were happy to share their personal experiences. 

The event, hosted by West Sussex County Council’s Fostering team, was an opportunity to showcase a new short film to promote fostering for your Local Authority. Any Of Us is the sixth film produced by a growing partnership of councils and children’s trusts and this project will be the largest public sector fostering film collaboration yet, with over 80 participants from across the country. 

Any Of Us looks at three very different, ordinary people who all show some of the attributes needed to be a foster carer in incidents from their daily lives. Each encounters a different scenario where they show the caring instinct that is fundamental to being a foster carer. 

Tracy, a foster carer from Crawley said: “We wondered whether we were enough, what skills could we bring, would it be good enough? Yes, we were enough. We were able to our open hearts and our homes. We were able to comfort, reassure and support. My biggest regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.”   

Councillor Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, Learning & Skills attended the event and said: “Fostering can be an incredibly rewarding experience and we desperately need more foster carers here in West Sussex. As the Any Of Us film shows, foster carers are ordinary people, just like you, who come from a range of backgrounds. The collaborative production of this film is a great example of how we are working with other Local Authorities and trusts, pulling together expertise and resources to create a powerful message that hopefully will resonate with many people. 

“We urge anyone who has a spare room and an interest in helping children and young people to think about becoming a foster carer in West Sussex. We are committed to keeping children and young people safe and helping them fulfil their potential, and our foster carers are critical to this. Get in touch with our team to find out more about our comprehensive support package.” 

Foster carers for West Sussex County Council receive comprehensive training, ongoing professional support and a competitive financial package of up to £28,500 a year (per child). 

Watch Any Of Us here: Any of Us – Foster for WSCC

Welcoming the Online Safety Bill

It is well-known that it is challenging for legislation to keep up with changes in technology. The internet has a wealth of knowledge but there are dangers, and keeping children safe has become a growing concern. Therefore, I’m very pleased to see that the Online Safety Bill has been passed and will become law. 

This bill will make the internet safer for children while also protecting free speech and giving adults more control over what they see. I welcome this world-leading legislation from our Conservative Government that brings in measures to protect children from the worst of what’s online.

The bill criminalises the encouragement of self-harm, it requires firms to show how they enforce user age limits, while prohibiting platforms from banning users where they do not breach their terms of service. Companies that fail to protect children will be fined, while ensuring that tech firms and future governments cannot censor legitimate views.

While increasing protections for children, adults will have more power transferred to them over what content is visible. Companies will have to keep underage children off platforms intended solely for adults and social media firms required to remove illegal content from their platforms.

The Online Safety Bill will create a new criminal offence of assisting or encouraging self-harm online. Social media in particular presents significant risks to children. The bill requires social media companies to be fully transparent with consumers by removing content that they say is prohibited in their terms of service or face a fine of up to 10% of annual turnover. I genuinely believe this legislation will be a very positive step in the right direction.

Locally, West Sussex County Council email out an informative monthly newsletter called Staying Safe Online, which provides helpful advice and tips for helping to keep everyone safe online, including how we as adults can help keep our children safe. You can sign up to this newsletter here. As well as this newsletter, the County Council has helpful web pages about staying safe online which can be found here.