About Us
Care In Durham
Care In Durham has these main aims:
- To provide independent support and advice to young people looked after in or by Durham County Council or care leavers up to the age of 24. we do this 'in-house' or signpost to safe and reliable partner agencies.
- To carry out development work around the looked after system and thus help to improve it. We do this in conjunction with other agencies and partners across the County.
- To listen to young people and pass on their messages to those who can influence policies etc.
- We provide regular trips, events and activities during school and college holidays to bring young people looked after together, to enjoy new experiences, keep in touch with one another, avoid isolation and have fun!
Care In Durham also supports the 5 main topics in the Every Child Matters.
1. Being Healthy: we try and provide guidance and advice on a number of Health Topics including Healthy eating and general health matters.
2. Staying Safe: We were the instigators of the Drive Project that is now run by Investing in Children, we included a training day on Road Safety. we have links with drug councellors and many other agencies that contribute to keeping children and young people safe.
3. Most of our events are aimed at enjoying new experiences and we celebrate achievement by supporting Durham County Council's Achievement Awards Night and their new Sports and Arts Fund.
4. Making a Positive Contribution: A lot of our young people serve on either our Development Group or our Board of Trustees, sometimes both. They work with professionals to deliver training about working with young people, and other projects, all making a positive contribution.
5. Economic Well Being: We try and make sure that any young person has a chance of being supported by whatever agency they feel they need. We link with various services to look at training and education that would support a better chance of going into employment, further education and training. we send young people out to talk with Job Centres and employment schemes and support them when they do this.
We will be arranging activities for care leavers and those about to leave care to support the aims of ECM
The History or Story Behind Our Site
CID was formed in 1993 by a group of young people in care. Their efforts were supported by the Children's Rights Officer for County Durham.
From there the group/project has grown to be a Registered Charity that continues to support young people in Residential or Foster Care across the County.
We hold at least four 'get together' trips out every year where we go to Theme Parks and the like. These are just fun days designed to get as many of you together as we can and have fun or enjoy new experiences.
Every year we host our Annual General Meeting where we vote in our Board of Trustees, discuss our business and then have a party with a disco or Karaoke. We also host a Christmas Party every year for young people.
There are several smaller events for groups of up to twenty throughout the year. when these happen, they will be posted out to you at your home but will also be posted on this site, so keep checking!
This year will also see us booking several 'awareness evenings' for those about to go into independent living. these evenings feature an expert or representative from various organisations that will come to tell you about solving or easing problems that you may face as you leave care and go to live on your own. This service is designed to compliment the work done by your Young Person's Advisor and the Leaving Care Service but is completely independent, we also hope to revive cookery classes at some point in the future too!
CARE IN DURHAM caters for all young people who are in care or who have been in care, right across the county. we are also happy to work with young people who are looked after by another local autority but who live in County Durham or young people who live elsewhere but are looked after by Durham!
