Your voice

There are lots of different ways you can get involved in having a say about the service you get.

You may have suggestions about what we could do differently or even what's going well for you which could have a positive impact for other care leavers.

You might be interested in joining LINX, Lancashire's children in care council or the care leaver forum. The groups are made up of young people who are in care or care leavers. It is another way of getting your voice heard. They provide a great opportunity for you to talk about issues affecting care leavers which can be fed back to the Corporate Parenting Board. 

The Corporate Parenting Board is there to make sure the council does a good job for you. Attending the Corporate Parenting Board is another way you can raise issues for children in care and care leavers.

Complaints

If you have any concerns about the service and support you are receiving then please raise this as soon as possible with your social worker, personal adviser or their manager, hopefully this will be resolved quickly.

Or you may want to contact National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) to request an advocate, phone 0808 808 1001.

However, if you do want to make a complaint contact the Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 6720.

Mind Of My Own App

Mind Of My Own is a way for care leavers to prepare for meetings, raise problems or ask for something.

You can download the Mind Of My Own an App for Android or Apple devices or use it on any internet browser device such as a tablet or Xbox.

You can ask for the information you put in to go to a worker of your choice, for example your social worker, personal advisor or the complaints team.

Mind Of My Own is not an instant messaging service and you will not receive a response back through the App. The information gets picked up and passed on to the worker during normal working hours, Monday to Friday. The worker will then contact you by phone or email as usual.

More information and advice

For up to date information on groups and activities across the county have a look at the events page.

There are other groups for young people aged 12-19, or 25 if you have special educational needs or a disability. They aim to give you a voice on issues that affect young people.

Lancashire is part of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF),which promotes the voice of care leavers through the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum. This forum gives you the chance to meet other care leavers from across the country and get to hear what they are doing in their local authority. If you're interested in attending the forum or want more details then please use the form below to contact us. 

Tell us what you think

Let us know if you have any comments or feedback about the local offer for care leavers, such as:

• the support that is available
• how easy it is to find information
• how we can improve the local offer

You can also use this form if you want to get involved in the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum.

We will try our best to reply to your comments  about the Local Offer. However if you need any information about specific support then please contact your personal adviser or Lancashire Childrens Social Care:

• 0300 123 6720 (or out of hours 0300 123 6722)