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In the Community.
Because many of our young people are placed individually it is vital that we
encourage them to socialise and integrate into a normal community and make
a positive contribution to it.
This can be a long drawn out process especially for young people who have been
isolated for a large part of their lives.
We positively encourage our young people to take part in Community events,
including national fund raising days like Comic Relief.
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Charmaine, our ‘Community’ narrow boat is available for local voluntary groups to use and our young people are encouraged to offer their services as crew for day trips.
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Young People are also encouraged to mix with local young people, make positive relations with neighbours and join in activities and clubs. We have often arranged joint holidays for young people and their local friends using our facilities at home and abroad.
Befrienders
An integral part of this is the introduction to our young people of our Community Befrienders. These are ordinary members of the community chosen for their commitment to young people. After the usual C. R. B and other checks, they are inducted into the organisation and introduced to a young person. We match individuals to young people based on interests and needs.
These befrienders play a vital role, both in terms of adding strength to our child protection practice and as a link to the wider community. Young People see them as advocates and as people who actually want to spend time with them. A befriender will meet with a young person once or twice a week, as part of their programme and will organise outings and events to suit the young person.
Family Contact
Family, regardless of history is important to most of our young people. Appropriate family contact is positively encouraged and all of our facilities are available for family weekends and days out. We have successfully re-introduced many young people to their families using these “neutral venues” as a base for family work. We will go to great lengths to enable contact to take place - anywhere!