West NiCC

Where is it?

The Norfolk in Care Council (NiCC) group in the West meets in King’s Lynn.

Your foster carer can provide transport to meetings, but if they can’t, we can arrange transport to make sure you can take part.

When does the group meet?

The group meets in the evening on the first Wednesday of each month. Food is provided as many members go to the meeting after school and need something to eat.

What has West NiCC group been doing?

Recruitment

The West NiCC group was originally attended by one or two young people and meetings took place in different places each month. Since September, there has been a big recruitment drive. A letter written by the West NiCC has been used to advertise the group and has helped to recruit more members. There are now four to six young people who attend meetings every month.

Election of a chair and co-chair

In order to make sure the West NiCC group is and remains young-person led, we held an election to choose a chair and co-chair of the NiCC group. The job of chair and co-chair is to meet with the participation officer to agree what will be discussed and the roles each person will have during the meeting. They have an equal say in what should be discussed. There is currently an acting chair of the NiCC as the elected chair is unable to continue to come to meetings so there will be another election happening soon.

Passport to independence

The West NiCC group have also spoken about how they can make the passport to independence more young person friendly. Discussions were had about the name and how it can be a bit scary for children and young people new to the UK. It has been suggested that the name should be changed due to this. The West group have also worked on how to split the passport to independence up into different parts. Initially, we spoke about age categories, but it was agreed other categories (such as bronze, sliver and gold) might be better. A group of children and young people are now working with managers to change the passport to independence to improve it for children and young people.

Looked after children (LAC) reviews and the world’s best independent reviewing officer (IRO)

The West NiCC group have also worked with the IRO service to include the voice of children and young people in their annual report. They produced information about what the ‘world’s best’ and ‘world’s worst’ IRO would be like – and what makes a good LAC review. This was included in the recommendations of the IRO report and we will make sure all IROs read it and work to make reviews enjoyable for children and young people.

The promise, advocates, and how to make a complaint

We asked young people at the West and Breckland NiCC’ groups about these three things.

They said: "It is important for young people to know what their rights are and to have this information shared with them."

To help with this, we invited the team manager for LAC in Breckland to come and speak to the group about their concerns. The manager has said she will make sure all information is shared with all LAC and young people in Breckland.

What is West NiCC group doing next?

The West group is going to continue to recruit new members to the NiCC meetings and continue to discuss how we can improve services.

We will also invite IRO managers and the head of social work in West and Breckland to talk about making changes to how young people are told about their rights based on what children and young people think should happen.

If you would like more information email us at csparticipationteam@norfolk.gov.uk.