The Children in Care Council (CiCC) is made up of young people aged 10-16 who are in care and being looked after by West Sussex County Council. The council is supported by the Voice and Participation Team. The CiCC gives young people the chance to have their voice heard about the services that affect them.
The CiCC's activities include:
- working with those who provide their services, such as social care and the Corporate Parenting Panel
- sharing their experiences and giving their views
- helping inspect services for children and young people
- developing young people’s skills through team building and activity days.
Recent activities
- Helping to develop the new West Sussex social care standards and the effect these have on young people.
- Working with professionals, young people in care and the Corporate Parenting Panel on our campaign 'Treat us the same', to reduce stigma and difference for young people in care.
- Meeting with the Head of the Virtual School to improve services.
- Meeting with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, the Chief Executive and Leader of West Sussex County Council to let them know our thoughts on being in care and hearing about their role to improve it.
- Creating a video for social workers on the value and impact of life story work.
- Building measures into the Promise to young people in care and care leavers.
- Delivering the Brightspots survey to get the views of our young people in care and care leavers.
- Organising the EPIC Awards - an award ceremony to recognise the achievements and talent of young people in care and care leavers in West Sussex.
- Working on our campaign to highlight stereotypes and stigma affecting children in care, language used by professionals and involving young people in decisions made about them.
Video
Listen to what Jack and Leah think about questions they're often asked about being in care.
Note: This CiCC video uses YouTube's automated captions, which we have checked for accuracy.
Care leavers group
The Care Leavers group is separate to the CiCC and gives opportunities to young people who receive support from the Leaving Care Service. These young people contribute to service design including the delivery of local and national policies for Care Leavers.
Care leavers also help with training courses and represent Children Looked After (CLA) young people in West Sussex on the National Care Leavers Benchmarking Forum and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children in Care and Care Leavers.
Find out more
You can find out more by using the link below.
Get involved
If you are interested in getting involved with the CiCC use the contact details below.