Collective Parenting Strategy

As children and young people with care experience, we want our voices to be heard, respected, and truly valued. Being in care is just one part of our identity – we are individuals with unique characteristics, strengths, dreams, and potential. We ask that every decision made about us includes our input. We deserve to be treated with the same care, respect, and ambition that any loving parent would show their own child.

We need our collective parents to actively listen, believe in us, and stand by us – even when we may not seem engaged. Consistency, honesty, and trust are vital to us, especially as many of us have struggled with these in the past. We dream of secure homes, nurturing relationships, and opportunities to learn, work, and grow. We want to be involved in shaping the services that affect us – not just consulted, but genuinely included.

We expect the transition into care to be carefully planned and as natural as possible, without trauma. Collective parents should maintain an open door, allowing us to speak freely and safely about our experiences. Our questions deserve honest answers, with explanations given as many times and in as much detail as we need – especially as we grow and understand more.

We should always have the opportunity to speak privately and confidentially. Our vision is for all children in care and care leavers to live happy lives and to be free to express themselves fully. We want carers and professionals to treat us with respect, honesty, kindness, and warmth, and to understand our identities, cultures, and lived experiences.

We believe everyone should have the chance to be matched with carers who are a good fit for them, including those who reflect our BAME, LGBTQ+, cultural, and personal interests. We hope our corporate parents continue to celebrate our successes, notice our struggles, and help us grow in confidence and independence.

Our vision is simple: care should be better than the situation we came from. It should give us stability, happiness, and the tools to thrive – now and in the future. Together, we can make care a place where young people feel supported, respected, and empowered to be their best selves.

Dear children and young people,

As collective parents, we want every child in our care and every care leaver to feel happy and healthy. We also want them to feel safe where they live, at school or work, and in their community. This is part of our wider commitment to help every child in Hertfordshire thrive and achieve their full potential, while growing up in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment.

Our Collective Parenting Strategy explains how we plan to make that happen for you. It includes making sure you have stable homes, strong support networks and the chance to achieve your goals for the future.  

Everything we do is about helping you be safe, be included, be healthy, be ambitious, be resilient, be independent and be happy. These are the things you told us matter most to you and this plan is built around making them real in your life.  

We’ve listened to your ideas and experiences to shape this strategy.  The priorities and values you helped to create have guided everything we do.  Many of you have told us you feel safe, supported and listened to.  We are proud of that progress; we know there’s still more to do and we’re determined to keep improving.  

Making this strategy work takes all of us: the council, our partners and your communities. We take our role as your collective parents seriously and we’ll keep doing our best to make Hertfordshire a place for you to grow, feel supported, and live a life that feels good to you. 

We’re here for you. With respect and commitment, 

Councillor Steve Jarvis, Leader of the Council Councillor
Councillor Anthony Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care
Angie Ridgwell, Chief Executive
Jo Fisher, Executive Director of Children’s Services and Education

• Almost all our children in care told us they trust the adults they live with and their social workers. Nearly all care leavers (95%) also said they trust the personal advisers who support them.
• Lots of children in care (94%) said they have at least one good friend. This was a bit lower for care leavers (85%) but still shows that many have someone close to them.
• Just over half of children in care (53%) feel they get enough time with their brothers and sisters. That’s better than in other local authorities, where only 45% of children said the same.
• Most care leavers said they have someone who listens to them (88%), someone who tells them when they’ve done well (87%) and someone who believes in them (85%).
• But some care leavers told us they feel lonely. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 (19%) said they feel lonely often or always, which is almost twice as many as other young people in the general population (10%).

• Help you stay close to the people who matter. We will make this a key part of care planning and ask our partners to do the same.  Before making decisions about care, we will carefully consider whether family or someone close to you could care for you.  
• Create more chances to connect. We will offer regular activities, meet-ups and events like the Ohana Group or football tournaments to help you make friends and feel part of a group.

• Make sure you have a trusted adult. Whether it’s a social worker, personal adviser, or someone you choose, we will make sure someone checks in with you regularly, so you feel listened to, supported, and not alone. We can also offer our Lifelong Links service to help you stay connected with people who care about you.  
• Free up social worker’s time. We will change how we record information so they can spend more time with you and less on paperwork.
• Support carers to build strong relationships.  We will offer training and workshops to help carers understand loneliness and support you better.
• Help you join in locally. Whether it’s clubs, hobbies or youth groups, we will support you with things like free travel or gym passes.
• Spot and respond to isolation. We will use your feedback and wellbeing checks to make sure you get the support you need. We have now introduced an advice line you can use at any age to ask any questions or talk through concerns; you don’t need to feel alone.
• Support through change. We want every child to have strong, trusting relationships with adults and a sense of belonging. If someone working with you or where you live must change, we will help you understand and feel supported. We will do everything we can to avoid causing more hurt.

• You tell us you feel less lonely and more connected to others through regular feedback, surveys and groups.
• More children and young people are joining in with activities and making friends.
• More of you identify a trusted adult in your personal education plans, care reviews, or direct work.
• More of you are joining clubs or groups in your community and we’re helping with any barriers.
• You help shape the activities we offer and they feel right for you. 

• Most of our older children in care (aged 11-17) told us they feel positive about their future and believe what they’re doing is worthwhile. That’s better than in many other local authorities.
• Lots of children in care also said that an adult had explained why they are in care. This included:
  • 61% of our youngest children (aged 4-7)
  • 81% of children aged 8-11
  • 89% of those aged 11-17
  • 90% of care leavers
  • Many older children in care (69%) also said they feel happy with their life overall, which is higher than children in care in other areas.

• Support you to understand your story. We will give you time and support to explore your past in a way that feels safe and helpful, so you understand and feel confident in who you are.
• Celebrate who you are. We’ll support your interests, talents, and dreams, and help you grow in your own way.
• Challenge unfair treatment. We will help others understand what it means to be in care, so no one treats you unfairly because of it.
• Help you feel part of your community. We will help you get things like ID, citizenship, or anything else you need to feel part of your community and take part in everything life has to offer.
• Make sure support is inclusive. If you are disabled, we’ll make sure you get the right help and support as early as possible.
• Promote equity. We will look at how things like race, gender, or other parts of your identity might affect your experience, and work to make things fair for everyone.

• More children tell us they feel happier, enjoy fun activities, and have good weekends.
• More children are saying they understand their care history better in a way that makes sense to them.
• We are doing more life story work to help you understand why decisions were made for you, your journey and experiences.
• The plans we make with you are having a positive impact. We’re always checking to make sure what we do is helping.
• Your feedback is being shared with senior leaders, and they are listening to what you say.
• We are getting better at spotting where things aren’t fair and making changes that improve life now and in the future.

• Most children in care aged 8-11 (86%) and young people aged 11-17 (80%) said they always feel settled at home. That’s better than in other local authorities (75% and 71% respectively).
• Some care leavers (24%) said they struggle with money, which is more than twice as many as other young people in the general population (9%).
• Most care leavers (68%) said the place they live feels right for them.

• Support carers to support you. We value the people who care for you and will make sure they get the support they need to build strong relationships and feel supported too.
• Do our best to match you with the right carers. We will do our best to match you with carers who understand you and can support you well. We will make sure you have a say in what carers know about you, and what you know about them before you move in, so you can feel comfortable and cared for in your new home. If you have brothers or sisters, we will do everything we can to help you stay together. Being with family is important, and we will try to make that happen wherever possible.
• Minimise changes. If your living arrangements need to change, we will try to keep disruptions to a minimum and make sure you’re prepared and supported.
• Support your move to independence. When you are ready to move on from care, we will help you find the right place to live by working closely with local councils to make sure you find somewhere that feels familiar and where you can feel at home.
• Extending Support into Adulthood. We want more young people to be able to stay with their carers after they turn 18. We will make sure it is easier for you to stay with people you trust and feel safe with, even after you turn 18, by updating the rules and support available.
• Keep you informed. We will send you regular updates every few months so you always have the latest information about what support you can receive. Things like help with travel and activities that may interest you.
• Help you build life skills. We will provide you with advice written with young people to help you learn things like cooking, budgeting, and looking after yourself.

• You tell us you feel safe, settled, and supported in your home.
• More of you say you trust the adults who care for and support you, and you’re seeing the same trusted people over time.
• You’re spending time with family and friends and records show you have people around you who care.
• You feel prepared for independence, are managing money better, and have plans for your future.
• You’re involved in decisions about where you live and, when changes happen, you feel prepared and understand why.
• Carers and professionals say they feel valued, confident, and supported in their roles which helps them support you better.
• More people are becoming foster carers because they’ve heard positive things.
• You’re staying with trusted carers after turning 18 and feel supported in your transition to adulthood.

• Nearly all older children in care (91%) said they always feel safe at home. However, this was lower for care leavers with 65% saying they always feel safe.
• Some children in care (20% aged 8-11 and 17% aged 11-17) said they’ve felt scared to go to school because of bullying.  This is lower than in other local authorities and every child who said this also told us they had a trusted adult helping them through it.
• 8% of care leavers hardly ever or never felt safe in their homes and 9% in their neighbourhood. These care leavers were most likely to live in a rental house/ flat or in supported accommodation, but there were examples across all living situations apart from Staying Put arrangements.
• Under half of care leavers in Hertfordshire (48%) ‘always’ felt settled where they lived, with 44 (12%) ‘hardly ever/ never’ feeling settled.
• A considerably greater proportion of young people (11-17yrs) in care in Hertfordshire ‘always’ felt settled where they lived (83%).

• Check in regularly. We will make more opportunities to ask how you’re feeling and whether you feel safe. We’ll check in with you regularly and make sure you always have the chance to tell us if something has changed.
• Create safe social spaces. We will work with you to design social activities that feel right for you—safe, inclusive, and based on what you enjoy.
• Support safe connections. We will help you stay in touch with friends and family online by making sure you have a phone if you need one. We’ll also give carers clear advice about using social media safely, so you feel supported and protected.
• Provide safe, local homes. We are working to make sure there are more foster homes and children’s homes in Hertfordshire, so every child and young person has a local, safe, and caring place to live. That includes homes where you can be the only child if that’s what you need, or homes with specially trained carers who work with a team—like therapists and support workers—to help you feel safe, understood, and supported.
• Support for young people from other countries. If you’ve come to live in Hertfordshire from another country and you’re on your own or facing challenges with immigration or nationality, we’re here to help. We’ll support you as you settle into life in the UK and help with any extra challenges. You have the right to feel safe, secure, and cared for.
• Respond when you’ve been away. If you’ve been away from where you live and people didn’t know where you were, we will always check you’re okay when you return. We’ll offer you a chance to talk about what happened and how you’re feeling. We want more children and young people to be offered and accept a return home interview, so we can understand your experience and make sure you’re safe.
• Use better data to make things fairer. We are collecting better information to understand how children in care and care leavers are doing in areas like health and the justice system. We’ll pay special attention to children who might face extra challenges because of things like race or disability, so we can make things fairer.

• You tell us you feel safe, settled, and supported at home, at school and in your community.
• You say you trust the adults who care for and support you and feel confident staying in touch with people online safely.
• You tell us the activities we offer feel safe, inclusive, and enjoyable.
• Young people who’ve come from other countries tell us they feel safe, supported, and included.
• We notice fewer signs of isolation in reviews and wellbeing checks.
• Fewer of you are reported as being away from where you live without people knowing where you are.
• We can show improvements in outcomes for children facing extra challenges, including those related to race, disability, or health.