Awards success for Cheshire East

Awards success for Cheshire East's children and families teams

Cheshire East Council's children and families teams are celebrating success at the Children and Young People Now Awards.

Cheshire East Council won the children in care award for its fostering capacity scheme, which awards grants to extend or adapt homes or buy new cars to meet the needs of fostering households.

It funded an extension which has enabled one foster family to look after sibling groups, who can be hard to place. When current projects are complete, the scheme will have helped improve the lives of about 20 children.

The partnership working award went to Cheshire Without Abuse, a charity which is commissioned by Cheshire East Council to support children affected by domestic violence and abuse. CWA assesses all referrals and works with a wide range of partners to ensure children and young people aged seven to 19 get the right help.

This could include one-to-one support or taking part in a programme to help build resilience or recover from trauma. All children and young people who completed programmes in 2013/14 showed improvement in at least one area. The scheme has led to improved behaviour and attendance at school.

Cheshire East's early years and childcare team was highly commended for its early language development programme. By prioritising in-house early learning development training for staff in disadvantaged areas, the programme boosted the skills of practitioners supporting the most vulnerable children. The team has trained 555 early years practitioners, 30 childcare students; 52 child minders; 30 family service workers; 20 health visitors; and 18 foster carers.

The Council was also shortlisted in the youth justice award for its programme to tackle harmful sexual behaviour among young people.

Audlem Councillor Rachel Bailey, Cheshire East's Cabinet Member responsible for children's services, said: "I was both honoured and proud to be at the award ceremony sitting amongst the great and the good in children's services from across the UK.

"There was a brilliant atmosphere on the night and our winning teams were rightly awarded. We aspire to be the best and the awards reflected the teams' tremendous achievements, lifting the hearts of our staff who work so hard to ensure that we make a difference to the lives of children and young people in our communities."

The Photo features:
Left to right: Saskia Ritchie (Cheshire Without Abuse), Carole Sharples and Pauline Austin (Early Years and Childcare Team), Georgina Hilton and Tracy Mese (Fostering Team), Jo Boulton and Amanda Leese (Youth Engagement Service), and Councillor Rachel Bailey.

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