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Improving outcomes for looked-after children is a challenge we all face. But there's no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all' solution. We can create opportunities, but they mean nothing unless young people have the confidence, self-esteem and support to reach out and grab them. Two years ago, children in our care told us they were not consulted enough about the issues which affect their lives, and we set up a ‘voice group' so they could offer feedback about the types of services they wanted. It turned out that what they wanted more than anything else was someone to support them who wasn't a social worker or someone doing their job, but a person who just cared about them and wanted to be there. The result is our ‘Children in our care' mentoring scheme, launched last autumn. It's all about nurturing the individual and trying to give him or her the sort of experiences that any child growing up in a family might have. This means supporting their school achievements and aspirations and giving them the chance to mix with different people and try new activities. The scheme has targeted young people in the council's care, either in children's homes or with parents on a care order, who have reached a critical stage of transition in their school lives as they prepare either to move up from primary school to secondary, or as they begin their GCSE studies. Our own experiences show these groups are most likely to be absent from school, through truancy or exclusion, and there is a wealth of evidence nationally to suggest children in care fare less well than others. For example, a higher number of children in care are permanently excluded from school, and significantly more have a statement of special educational needs than other children. We want looked-after children and young people in Blackburn with Darwen to achieve the same outcomes as other children – be secure, stay healthy and enjoy their childhoods. Sadly, issues such as insecurity, educational underachievement and lack of fulfilment are still too common, but we feel that, by working to better listen to and understand their needs, we can break the cycle of disadvantage. A six-month pilot mentoring scheme ran from last October to March this year, with funding from Rainer, a charity which works with disadvantaged children, the DCSF and Blackburn with Darwen Education Development Trust for 12 mentoring relationships. Our first group of mentors were all council staff, who came forward from a number of different departments. It was a huge success, and we have recently been awarded the Approved Provider Standard (APS) for good practice. This is a national quality benchmark for organisations which provide one-to-one volunteer mentoring or befriending. All mentoring volunteers are CRB checked and receive induction training and further training, including child protection, drug awareness, emotional wellbeing and Every child matters (ECM). Volunteers and young people take part in team-building workshops, such as circus skills, together, and are then matched up so they can meet regularly in the evenings or at weekends. The idea is that mentors will offer encouragement with schoolwork and introduce them to new hobbies, sports and social activities, such as swimming, going to the cinema and eating out. These are young people who aren't used to someone taking a personal interest in their lives. When someone encourages them to try at school, supports them to solve day-to-day problems, and shows interest in their future plans, it can have a huge impact on their self-esteem, confidence and sense of wellbeing. It is too early to evaluate the impact on educational attainment and attendance, but we have had some unexpected, but very rewarding results, such as the mentee who described their mentor as their best friend. We are now recruiting members of the public as mentors. The council is funding the programme until at least March 2009, and we have appointed a full-time mentoring co-ordinator to help build a team of 30-plus volunteers who, we hope, will eventually work with an equivalent number of children in our care. But young people are not the only ones to benefit. Mentoring is an excellent opportunity for the volunteer too, because it offers training, career development and the opportunity to join new activities and make new friendships, while knowing they have made a real difference to a young person. Our staff tell us they feel they have been able to give something back to the local community. Gladys Rhodes is deputy director of children's services at Blackburn with Darwen Council

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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Council counsellors

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