We will help you to be proud of yourself and celebrate your individual beliefs
We will support you to discover and to be who you are and honour your unique identity. We will help you develop your own personal beliefs and values and accept your heritage and culture.
We will celebrate your identity as an individual, as a member of identity groups and as a valued member of your community. We will value and support important relationships and help you manage changing relationships or come to terms with loss, trauma or other significant life events. We will support you to express your identity positively.
Believe in you
We will value your strengths, gifts and talents and encourage your aspirations. We will hold a belief in your potential and a vision for your future even if you have sight of these yourself. We will help your push aside limiting barriers and encourage and support you to pursue your goals in whatever ways we can.
We will help you learn and do your best at school and college and will help you explore and be ready for the world of work
We will help you take part in activities that you enjoy or that you are interested in and will fully involve you in plans and decisions about you and your future.
We will believe in you, celebrate you and affirm you.
Listen to you
We will take time to listen to you, respect, and strive to understand your point of view. We will place your needs, thoughts and feelings at the heart of all decisions about you, negotiate with you and show how we have taken these into account.
If we don’t agree with you we will fully explain why. We will provide easy access to the compliant and appeals processes and promote and encourage access to independent advocacy whenever you need it.
Inform you
We will give you information that you need at every point in your journey, from care to adulthood, presented in a way that you would want including information on legal entitlements and the service you can expect and receive from us at different stages of the journey. We will keep information up to date and accurate.
We will ensure you know where to get current information once you are no longer in regular touch with leaving care services. We will make clear to you what information about your time in care you are entitled to see. We will support you to access this when you want it, to manage any feelings that you might have about the information and to put on record any disagreement with factual content.
Support you to become healthy and happy adults
As well as information, advice, practical and financial help we will provide emotional support. We will make sure you do not have to fight for support you are entitled to and we will fight for you if other agencies let you down. We will not punish you if you change your mind about what you want to do. We will continue to care about you even when we are no longer caring for you. We will make it our responsibility to understand your needs. If we can’t meet those needs we will try and help you learn for your mistakes; we will bot judge you and we will be here for you no matter how many times you come back for support. We will help you to learn new skills as you grow up and become an adult and will make sure we provide any support that is set out in current regulations and guidance.
Help you find and live in a safe place where you are protected from harm
We will work alongside you to prepare you for your move into independent living only when you think you are ready. We will help you think about the choices available and to find accommodation that is right for you. We will do everything we can to ensure you are happy and feel safe when you move to independent living. We recognise that at different times you may need to take a step back and start over again.
We will do our best to support you until you are settled in your independent life; we will not judge you for your mistakes or refuse to advise you because you did not listen to us before. We will work proactively with other agencies to help you sustain your home.
Be your lifelong champion
We will listen to what you have to say and make sure it makes a difference.
We will do our best to help you break down barriers encountered when dealing with other agencies. We will work together with the services you need, including housing, benefits, colleges and universities, employment providers and health services to help you establish yourself as an independent individual.
We will treat you with curtesy and humanity whatever your age when you return to us for advice or support. We will help you to be the driver of your life, not the passenger. We will point you in the direction and journey alongside you at your pace. We will trust and respect you. We will not forget about you. We will remain your supported in whatever way we can, even when our formal relationship has ended.