National Fostering Agency Founded in1995 as the London Fostering Agency and initially provided foster carers for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. We are now a national organisation with registered offices in England Scotland and Wales Although a national organisation we seek to deliver local services, recognising how very differently authorities work London: Currently NFA foster carers are caring for over 300 children. In London and across the Agency approx 25% of all children cared for by NFA are % of all young people aged 15 plus who have been placed with NFA carers will have move on before they have been with us for 4 months.

Our journey: Started with the development of a relationship with A National Voice and their LILAC team following their presentation at our staff conference in This relationship helped us to focus on embedding a culture of participation, that was driven from senior managers down and had full support across the organisation We were and still are committed to actively engaging children and young people in a meaningful way. Children and Young People’s Groups across the organisation started in earnest in 2010 – First two national events took place at the end of summer 2010 Over 50 children and young people attended, and took part in a number of activities. They provided their feedback on aspects of NFA service design and delivery, and had an opportunity to meet one another, share experiences and views and enjoying a day out...

LILAC The key purpose of LILAC project is to draw upon the expertise of care-experienced young people to improve the policy and practice of agencies in how they consult with children in care and care leavers: Following a robust assessment: 400 questionnaires and 62 interviews of staff, carers, children and young people we achieved the LILAC award in March 2011 Throughout 2011 children and young people groups went from strength to strength, events included: choreographed dance creation of an art mural participation in a nature walk crafts & artistic work They have also contributed to the NFA publications for children and young people and taken part in events which have raised money for our sponsored charities.

Dream and Aspirations Was the theme of the 2011 National Children’s Conference, behind all the fun and activities of the day was the question: ‘What can we do to help young people achieve in the area’s of education and employment that they are interested in?’ Recognising that we are limited within our own organisation we have been seeking appropriate partners and have had discussions with: In Education: Nisai Virtual Academy who are an online learning community and real time teaching environment, they offer courses that are individually tailored to the needs of the student, this includes a range of work skill courses aimed at developing non-academic skills that are needed by employers. Buttle UK who offer a Student and Trainee Grants Programme, who award financial support to young people aged yrs in a number of ways, course costs, equipment or basic day to day living costs.

Employment Zenos is part of the Pearson Group and offers apprenticeships in the IT field Pearson Partnerships in addition offer apprenticeships in the following areas: IT Health and Social Care Business and Administration Site management Construction operations Customer Care Security

Why Zenos/Pearson? NFA explored other providers of apprenticeship, but in addition to Zenos/Pearson being a national company and offering a wide range of apprenticeships they also have a safeguarding team, who can work alongside the regional Supervising Social Workers to offer support to young people on matters that may deflect their attention from work: –Relationship problems –Abuse, harm, neglect –Money difficulties –Health and well being issues –Accommodation worries Our aim is for NFA and Zenos to work together to support the foster carer and the young person through a successful apprenticeship and hopefully on to employment

Benefits at this point Staff, carers children and young people who are actively engaged, contributing to the service and enjoying what they are doing Enthusiasm from staff who want to work on this project so that in the near future young people within NFA can take up work experience and apprenticeships

Thank You