Lemn Sissay MBE addresses foster carers virtually

Thursday, 1 October 2020 19:48

Foster carers for the City of Wolverhampton Council were treated to a keynote speech by author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay MBE at a virtual conference last week.

The annual Foster Carer Conference for foster carers and fostering professionals usually takes place at Molineux Stadium, but due to this year’s coronavirus pandemic it was held online.
The event, now in its 5^th year, is an opportunity for learning and sharing best practice, to help further improve fostering services for Wolverhampton’s looked after children.

This year’s theme ‘Wounds to Scars’ focussed on how foster carers can support children in care on their journey to healing, with guest speaker Lemn Sissay MBE giving a thought-provoking motivational talk about his own journey through the care system. It can be seen here: https://youtu.be/3-qwSUqSjdE.

Other presentations looked at coping through lockdown, the Black Lives Matter movement and helping children in care return to school.

Councillor John Reynolds, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, opened the event and said: “The job our foster carers do continues to be even more vital during these current times and I can only imagine the challenge and impact the coronavirus emergency continues to have on their daily lives.

“Our foster carers are some of the most important key workers and frontline carers in our city and we cannot thank them enough for everything they are doing to support our most vulnerable children and young people in our community.

“The Foster Carer Conference is one of our key events of the year and we wanted to make it special by inviting Lemn Sissay MBE to address our foster carers, social workers and fostering professionals. Lemn originally joined us at one of our events two years ago and received a standing ovation.”

To find out more about Fostering for Wolverhampton, please visit www.fosteringforwolverhampton.com or call 01902 551133.

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