“My young person has built a lovely, friendly relationship with her IV and always looks forward to meeting up with her every month. I think she has gained confidence and realised that she can trust and rely on people.” Foster carer
We all understand that children need to experience positive, stable relationships with trusted adults. Without this, it can be difficult to learn to trust people and make and sustain healthy relationships into adulthood. A stark reality for many children and young people growing up in care, is one of instability and feelings of isolation, as professionals in their lives come and go. This experience becomes more acute when children have to move from home to home, sometimes around the country, breaking relationships where they live and study.
‘Independent Visitors’ or IVs are volunteer befrienders recruited from local communities and matched with children and young people in care. They take the child out around once a month, do fun activities together and build a trusting, stable, positive relationship together over time. The IV role was introduced in the Children Act 1989 in law but numbers of children getting an IV have remained stubbornly low with just 3.5% of children in care in England currently having an IV and 1% in Wales Right Friend Campaign – National Independent Visitor Network (ivnetwork.org.uk)
“An IV can provide a change of scenery, it is also another adult to talk too, having fun and do different things”. Foster carer
As a foster carer, you understand the challenges and joys of providing a safe haven for a child or young person growing up in care. You are a trusted adult to turn to and listening ear. Can you help more children experience a stable, consistent relationship with an IV? In spite of it being children and young people’s legal entitlement to have one, if it’s in their best interest, we know that only a small number are offered an IV and that many do not understand what an IV is. We are calling on foster carers to help spread the word about this amazing volunteering role and help care-experienced children and young people understand how it can benefit them.
“The IV scheme has been such a benefit to our young person. He now has someone who he trusts and can confide in. The IV is genuinely interested in his future and goes such a long way towards making up for the loss of similar individuals in a normal extended family.” Foster carer
“We just wanted somebody else who wasn’t us, wasn’t a social worker, wasn’t the school wasn’t, you know… somebody official…. And that has really worked with (the IV). I think it’s a wonderful scheme. We’ve been really fortunate. I think it needs to be far more widely pushed within fostering. Definitely.”
To find out more about your local authority’s IV scheme, just speak with your child’s social worker or Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO).
