Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Takeover in the North East
This week, our Practice Transformation and Safeguarding Manager, Nichola, joined our North East team for an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) takeover which was a day filled with meaningful discussions and great ideas!
First up a refresher on our FCA Vision, Mission and Values, setting the tone for the day. Looking ahead to our 2025 strategy, the team suggested ways to celebrate minority festivals for our children with Hungarian, Polish, Brazilian, and Lithuanian heritage to name a few. Our Participation Officer, Christie, is already researching Hungarian Revolution Day and Brazilian Carnival days to make sure we embrace and educate on diverse cultures. Plus, young people can even earn an AQA unit award for learning about another culture.
We then reviewed the data we have on our recording systems and were pleased to see only a few gaps in religious information, which the team is now addressing. This reflects our commitment to keeping accurate, inclusive records for all our children.
We also looked at cross-cultural audits showcasing some great examples of how our amazing foster parents in the North East meet the cultural needs and support children who are of a different heritage/religion/ethnicity from themselves. It was great to see our foster parents linking up with others who have the knowledge and expertise in certain areas – both within the region and also the wider community.
We explored how to capture the views of pre/non-verbal children. Social workers talked about observations and using the social work toolkit while Christie talked about some tools she used and then made contact with the participation team in Midlands around the software they use.
A fantastic day with plenty of insights, collaboration and progress! Cementing our Vision, Mission and Values to be inclusive and constantly learning how to improve.
