The launch of Every Story Matters
We are pleased to announce the successful launch of Every Story Matters by Ann James, Director of Safeguarding and Care, on the 21st October 2022.
We talked about the importance of stories and highlighting new processes and procedures to ensure that life story work and a life story book is implemented into Gloucestershire Children Services for every child in care.
The event was well attended by social work staff and foster carers. Tammy Wheatley, Head of Service for Permanency, and Ann James discussed the importance of stories and how family and friends can retell these stories to us which aids our understanding of events that have taken place in our lives and helps us to understand our given situation. When thinking about the children in care and their future, there may not be somebody in their life to share their stories with them, highlighting the important of their stories being explored, documented, and treasured while in care.
The gaps that can form in a child’s story was clearly explained by Rob Tyrrell, Principal social worker, and Becca, ambassador, who demonstrated that all professionals working with a child at any given time hold a little part of their story. Lost stories can rarely be recovered. By acknowledging the gaps in the children’s stories, we can recognise the need to take action and support the children in understanding their history and experiences and documenting it for them as a memory to what has happened. To achieve this outcome the child’s social worker will follow the child’s lead and explore events in the child’s life in a creative and expressive way that is as individual as them. This work is carried out during their statutory visits as this is protected time for the child.
Some children have so many foster homes that it is difficult for them to recall where they have lived or even who they have lived with, foster carers are the custodians of a child’s precious memories, Wrench and Naylor (2013), and therefore we are asking all foster carers to create a life story book with or for the child in their care, documenting their family experiences throughout the duration of the child’s stay with them.