Our children and young people are at the heart of what we do
At Nexus Fostering, children and young people are at the heart of everything we do.
We believe their voices matter. Participation is not an add-on to our service. It is part of how we work every day.
When you foster with Nexus Fostering, you can feel confident that the children in your care will be listened to, respected and given real opportunities to grow in confidence and independence.
Find out about some of our projects we collaborate on with our children and young people.
Participation means making sure children and young people are involved in decisions that affect their lives.
At Nexus Fostering, this means:
We want every child and young person to feel heard, valued and included.
Within 4 to 6 weeks of a child or young person joining a Nexus Fostering foster family, our Participation Team will visit them.
This early visit helps us introduce ourselves in a relaxed and friendly way. It gives young people the chance to ask questions, share how they are feeling and find out about the opportunities available to them.
We want children to know who we are and how we can support them from the very beginning.
Young Ambassadors
We are proud to have 11 young ambassadors who help shape life at Nexus Fostering. They play an active role in improving services for other children and young people.
Here’s what they do:
The Nexus Newsletter
Our ambassadors lead and create our quarterly Nexus Newsletter. They plan the content, design the layout and decide what to include. They have told us they value the responsibility and the chance to express their ideas creatively.
The Nexus Children’s Guide
Our Children’s Guide was co-designed by our ambassadors. It takes the form of a comic book, complete with characters and backstories created by the young people themselves. This means new children joining Nexus receive information that feels engaging and relatable.
Ambassador Days
Twice a year, our ambassadors meet in person. Last year they visited a well-known magazine publisher in London and volunteered at a nature reserve. These experiences help build confidence, teamwork and new skills.
We have a trained Youth Panel made up of young people who interview and help select new staff for Nexus Fostering.
Our panel members are AQA accredited for this role, meaning their involvement is formally recognised.
By involving young people in recruitment, we ensure that the adults who join Nexus Fostering understand what truly matters to the children and young people we support.
Throughout the year, we deliver a wide range of practical and engaging workshops designed to support young people at every stage.
Our workshops include:
We also work in partnership with BECOME, who provide specialist advice on rights and entitlements for care leavers.
We proudly offer The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) to our young people.
This programme supports confidence, independence and the development of valuable life skills.
We provide:
Through DofE, young people gain experiences that support their future education, employment and personal development.
Fostering is not only a commitment for foster carers. It involves the whole family.
We recognise that the sons and daughters of foster carers play an important role, and we are committed to supporting and celebrating them.
When families join Nexus Fostering, children receive a welcome box that has been co-created with children from fostering households, reflecting their real experiences.
We also:
As one foster carer shared:
“We’ve been to three events now with Nexus and every single one was well organised and super fun. Great choice of venue, enthusiastic staff and very well planned. We look forward to the next one and thank Nexus for arranging events like this.”
Luke, Foster Carer, Midlands and West
We are committed to making sure all children and young people can access information in a way that works for them.
We offer:
We aim to meet the diverse needs of every child and young person we support.
Hi, my name is Laylun. I’m 16 and’ll be writing a blog about my experiences with Duke of Edinburgh (DofE). I have decided to take on silver because I had such an amazing experience doing my bronze, I made so many new and special memories and I feel like I picked up a lot of important life skills and new experiences like camping, pitching a tent, map reading and of course hiking.
Jess has lived with her foster carers for several years and has settled into life there. From supporting her foster brother to her favourite outings, Jess shares her experiences with us of living with her foster family and her plans now that she has turned 18.
Chloe entered foster care at 9 years old and has since experienced life with two foster families. Now 18 and living in her own flat, Chloe reflects on her journey and offers advice to other young people entering care.
My role is to ensure that our children and young people have voices that are heard across the agency and that they are involved in decision making processes. My vision is that our young people continue to make meaningful contributions to policy development, service delivery and have a say about what we do well at Nexus and what we could do better.
My primary goal is to advocate for the well-being of children, ensuring they feel valued and included. My role involves creating safe spaces for young people to express themselves, through initiatives like the Ambassador Programme, training development, the Children's Newsletter, and more upcoming projects.
I am helping the team with some of the administrative tasks as part of the Participation Team.
I've enjoyed my time as an Ambassador because of the friends I've made and the skills I have improved on, i.e. teamwork, co-operation, and my ability to talk about my feelings. Overall, I think being an Ambassador helps you with struggles, allows you to talk about your feelings, and allows you to get your thoughts out there! It also allows you to address things that might help other young people.
We would love to hear from you. Get in touch with us today
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