Written Statement: Care Experienced Summit

The third Care Experienced Summit between young care-experienced ambassadors and Welsh Government Ministers was held on 2 March 2024. The First Minister, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Minister for Social Justice, Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing and I attended, together with the chair of the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee. 

The summit was an inspiring day and built on the two previous events, held in Cardiff and Llandudno in December 2022 and October 2023, respectively. 

It was an opportunity for Ministers to update the young ambassadors about progress made since the First Minister signed a declaration committing to the radical reform of care services for children and young people and to hear from care-experienced young people about their ideas for changed.

Examples of progress include: 

• The National Practice Framework will improve working practice, drive consistency and deliver the first set of national standards for children’s services in Wales. The Framework will include improvements to the arrangements for sibling placements. 
• The Corporate Parenting Charter was launched in September 2023 to safeguard and promote the experience and wellbeing of all care-experienced children and young people, ensuring that they are listened to, and involved in decisions that affect them. As of now, there are 29 Corporate Parents signed up to the Charter including Welsh Government, Welsh Ministers and 8 local authorities.    
• Care leavers are at the heart of the Welsh Government’s work on homelessness. The Care Leavers Accommodation and Support Framework for Wales has been reviewed and updated. 
• A review of the role of personal advisers to care leavers has started. 
• Work is progressing on a new child and adolescent mental health service specification, and the new mental health strategy is being consulted on. 
• The Welsh Government will be introducing a Bill to remove private profit from the care of children and young people, so every penny spent on care services is targets towards delivering and improving services.

I would like to thank Voices from Care Cymru for organising this summit and, most importantly, all the young care ambassadors for continuing to share their experiences and thoughts with us. 

We are committed to continuing to work with them to reshaping the care system in Wales. We look forward to holding the next summit in 12 months’ time.