1. All Party Parliamentary Group for
All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked After Children and Care Leavers Topic: Personal Advisers
A personal adviser supports you when you have left care.
Info to help prepare for Wednesday 5th February 2014, pm
What is the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)?
The APPG is a group of MPs and peers (they sit in the House of Lords) who are interested in improving the care system. They have meetings that children and young people in care, adults with experience of care and professionals from across the country can come to, to talk about ways to improve the care system.
At most meetings there is a panel of people at the front who will say what they think about the topic for a few minutes each. Then we ask the audience to take part.
What can I do?
You can ask a question or you can explain what things are like for you or someone you know, and how you think things should be changed. You can do this by putting your hand up, or you can write your question down on a bright yellow piece of paper that staff from The Who Cares? Trust will give to the chair of the meeting. Slips of paper will be given out at the start of the meeting.
IMPORTANT: The panel can’t give full answers to personal issues, but telling them helps people who make decisions know what the problems are so they can try to stop them happening for you and children and young people in care across the UK
Main questions for the meeting:
What makes a good personal adviser?
What could we do to make sure that personal advisers are even better?

2. A guide to personal advisers
Guidance
When Government make laws, they write something called “guidance”. This helps people understand what the Government means by the law and what they must do.
There is guidance that tells us what has to happen for children in care when they are
leaving care and it tells us about personal advisers (PAs). You can read it here. It says that:
The PA will be the main person who ensures that care leavers get the right kind of support
All care leavers should know who their PA is and how to contact them.
It is important that the PA and the care leavers they support get on and work together so that the pathway plan can be carried out.
Young people’s views about what type of person they would like as their PA should be thought
about when a care leaver is matched to a PA.
If you stop being supported by your local authority when you turn 21 because you’re not
in education anymore, but decide later that you want to go back to education, your local authority
must give you support from a PA before you’re 25.
Did you know? Care leavers told us that their personal adviser is their most regular source of information.

3. Seven things that personal advisers must do for care leavers
What does a PA do?
There are seven things that a PA must do:
Give advice (including practical advice) and support.
Update and change your pathway plan once you have turned 18.
Organise reviews of your pathway plan to make sure it stays up to date and is useful.
Make sure your local authority does what your pathway plan says they should do.
Find services to help you with your needs and help you to visit the service.
Keep in touch with you about your progress and wellbeing.
Keep full, correct and up to date records of the contact they have had with you and the services they speak to you about.
Personal Advisers could do these things in different ways. What do you think is the best way for them to do the things above, e.g. update your pathway plan?
Do you think that there should be anything else on the list of things personal advisers must do?

4. What are good personal advisers like?
Some questions to think about…
At the meeting you get the chance to take part in a debate by asking the panel members questions or sharing ideas and comments. Top tip: put your hand up quick if you want to say something as lots of people want to speak and not everyone gets the chance. Here are some questions to help you think about what you might want to say at the meeting.
What are good personal advisers like?
e.g. do they know about everything or do they just know who to ask? Are they like your friend, or like a professional? Are they good at involving you in decisions?
When you first leave care, what do you want from a PA? Does this change when you are older?
What makes it difficult for personal advisers to do their job? What changes would mean they could support you better?
Did you know? Only 50% of care leavers we asked said that they had a copy of their pathway plan.

5. Make sure the people in power hear what you have to say!
Invite your MP
Make sure the people in power hear what you have to say!
We want MPs to come to the meeting to hear about what you have got to say. They are very busy people and get LOADS of invites to all kinds of things… their invite to the APPG needs to STAND OUT!
So WE NEED YOUR HELP! They are more likely to go to events that they are invited to by people who live in their area (who could vote for them if they’re over 18!)
On the next page is a template invite that you can use.
Who is my MP and what’s their address?
Go to findyourmp.parliament.uk and type your postcode in and it will give you the details of where to your invite to.
Make sure you include your address so they know you live in their area.

6. Here’s a draft email you could use.
What should I write?
Here’s a draft you could use.
Dear [insert your MP’s name here]
There has been a lot of news coverage about the care system recently, though not much of it about what young people themselves think of being in care. On 5th February 2014 I am attending the All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked After Children and Care Leavers. I am going to represent the views of looked after children and care leavers from [insert your council name here]. At this meeting, we are going to discuss how young people are supported by their personal advisers when they leave care.
The meeting is a chance for MPs, local politicians and policymakers to discuss with young people what needs to change in the care system. It takes place in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, from –
I would be very pleased if you would be able to attend and join us in debating what politicians can do to make the lives of looked after children and care leavers better. If you have any questions you can contact me on [insert details of someone to contact e.g. your participation officer] or contact Chloe Cockett at The Who Cares? Trust
Yours sincerely,
 [Your name]