This month we’ve handed over our blog to our Regional Children in Care Council, a group of care experienced young people who want to make their voices heard so they can make a difference for all children and young people in care across our region. Here, they reflect on their recent conference and remind us what it means to be a corporate parent.
At the end of July, we held our sixth annual North East Regional Children in Care Council conference. This was our chance to share what life is really like for young people in care, and to make sure the adults in power listen to us and take action. We want our voices to matter, and we want to be part of decisions that affect us.
This year, our theme was: “Be the kind of parent you would want for your own child.”
We believe that if something isn’t good enough for your own kids, then it’s not good enough for us either.
At the conference, we invited delegates to think about what being a good corporate parent really means. We ran four workshops that we designed ourselves, based on our real experiences. Two of them were about housing — one on what it’s like getting your first home, and the other on the realities of living alone as a care leaver. The other two focused on emotional wellbeing and on language and stigma.
Delegates told us afterwards that our workshops really made them think, even long after the day ended. That means a lot to us, because it shows that our voices were heard.
We also gave every delegate a letter we had written together. It said:
Dear Corporate Parent,
Thank you for coming today and listening to us. We are young people with care experience. We’ve come together to share our stories — not to blame, but to ask for change. We are more than the challenges we face. We have ambitions, talents, and potential. We want you to believe in us, invest in us, and open doors for us — not just focus on fixing problems. Being a corporate parent isn’t just a title. It means you are responsible for us, like any parent would be for their own child. You make decisions that affect our futures, our homes, our health, and our chances in life. We need you to really see us, hear us, and act on what you’ve heard.
We’ve spoken openly about the challenges we face:
-Being put in housing that is unsafe, unsuitable, and isolating. No young person should feel abandoned in a place they can’t call home.
-Struggling to get mental health support when we need it most. The help often comes too late, if it comes at all.
-Leaving care without the skills and preparation we need to manage adult life. We’re expected to become adults overnight, without the tools to succeed.
These aren’t just “gaps in the system.” They’re gaps in our lives. So, we ask you this: be the kind of parent you would want for your own child.
When you make decisions, ask yourself — would this be good enough for my son or daughter? If the answer is no, then it’s not good enough for us either.
We don’t need more promises, we need action. We need you to challenge systems that fail us, fight for better housing, fairer access to mental health care, and proper support as we step into adulthood. You have the power to change things. Please use it.
We want you to leave today not just informed, but inspired — to work with us, not around us. Involve us in the decisions that shape our lives. Co-produce solutions with us. Give us real power to influence services. Our experiences are real, but they don’t have to be repeated by the next generation. Together, we can change that.
Thank you for listening. It means more than you know.
Yours sincerely,
Care Experienced Young People from the Regional CiCC
We hope the conference had a real impact, and we’ll be following up with everyone on the “Pinky Promises” made on the day. If you couldn’t be there, we still want you to take on board what we’ve said — and let us know how your organisation plans to act.
Being part of this group means so much to each of us personally, but we also know it makes a difference for children and young people in care across the region. We want to keep making change, speaking up, and turning our experiences into something positive. We’d love any support you can give.
You can email us at: regionalcicc@northtyneside.gov.uk
Thank you,
from all of us at the North East Regional Children in Care Council.