We want you to have all the chances in life that other young adults have and throughout your time with leaving care, we will encourage you to develop your interests and get involved in positive activities that we think you will enjoy. People can participate in their community or in society in different ways and some people want to participate more than others. We will do our best to get you opportunities to participate in something that interests you or opportunities to develop your interests which you can then pursue independently.
We will do this by providing information on groups and clubs you may wish to join, putting you forward for awards within leaving care, informing you of schemes and competitions you can enter which are in line with your talents and interests, encouraging and helping you to enrol on the electoral register so you can vote in elections, setting up work experience placements in business areas which interest you, informing you about voluntary work that we think you may be interested in and setting up bespoke opportunities with employers and organisations in line with your aspirations. We will also advise and help you to challenge any discrimination should you ever have to face this.
We also want you to participate in our service and we will provide opportunities and events throughout the year specifically for you and other North Yorkshire care leavers. During these events, you will have opportunities to feedback on your thoughts on the service we provide as well as opportunities to socialise with other care leavers. You can keep up to date with what events are coming up by speaking to your leaving care case worker or finding us on the NY leaving care Facebook page.
Care champions
We have a youth council for children in care and care experienced young people called care champions in North Yorkshire. The group meets monthly online and face to face. We aim to connect and make friendships and work together on projects, consultations and activities that make improvements to the support received by you and other care experienced young people. In addition, a variety of events and opportunities to socialise together are scheduled throughout the year to encourage care experienced young people to get together. Care champions have opportunities throughout the year to represent the voice and views of children in care and care experienced young people and do this through a variety of youth-led campaigns and projects. We also talk directly with managers, corporate parents and decision-makers.
E-mail the team at nyvoice@northyorks.gov.uk You can also keep up to date with everything care champions and the NY Voice team are doing on our NY voice Facebook page, NY voice Instagram or NY voice Twitter.
Our youth councils
NY Voice has a variety of youth groups and youth councils that are held across North Yorkshire if you would prefer to be part of wider youth voice opportunities in your area take a look at our website to find out more and see if there is anything you would like to give a go.
Young inspectors
A group of young people that inspect local services on behalf of children and young people services. They work as a team to produce reports and present these to decision-makers and managers to recommend changes.
Flying
Our SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) youth council. The group meets online every Wednesday from 5pm to 6pm the group is really welcoming and works on a variety of projects and campaigns to further the rights of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Pride groups
In some of the areas we run LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and questioning plus) groups and sometimes organise group trips to pride events. We can also help signpost you to other local pride groups in your area.
If you want to find out more about any of these groups, please email us at nyvoice@northyorks.gov.uk.
A number of other organisations work within North Yorkshire and can offer different opportunities to get involved.
North Yorkshire Youth provides opportunities for children and young people to discover their own potential.
North Yorkshire Sport is driving positive change through sport and physical activity in North Yorkshire.