Last Friday (25 July), over 200 people attended an event at InflateBounce in Huntingdon to celebrate the achievements of Cambridgeshire’s children in care.
The Annual Celebration and Awards Event is an opportunity for Cambridgeshire County Council, as Corporate Parent, to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the children in their care.
In the lead up to this event, staff and carers were asked to nominate the children they work with for awards – this generated more than 650 glowing written nominations in recognition of the achievements of nearly 450 Cambridgeshire children in care.
The council acts as parent to children in their care and care leavers, supporting their wellbeing. This includes safeguarding and working closely with partners and agencies to access the best possible support and services.
The Council’s commitment goes beyond the statutory duties, supporting all the children and young people in their care to be healthy and safe and feel valued and important.
Councillor Jonny Edge, Vice Chair of the Children and Young People’s Committee, said:
“I’ve really loved being here today, meeting our children in care and their carers, and hearing their stories. We take our role as corporate parent of these children extremely seriously. Like any parent, we want to ensure our children have opportunities to thrive - we want them to feel recognised and appreciated for who they are and empowered to pursue and reach their goals.”
“Seeing the absolute joy on our children’s faces today as their achievements are recognised publicly has made this such an incredible day.”
Martin Purbrick, Executive Director for Children, Young People and Families, also in attendance, added:
“We had 650 award nominations for our children in care this year – I think that’s a record! The nominations we’ve received were very moving – they described our young people as: ‘respectful’, ‘generous’, ‘kind’, ‘brave, ‘funny’, positive, hard-working, and ‘inspiring’. Those are words that relate to all our young people – we are so very proud of them!
“Today has been amazing. There were more children at this celebration than ever before, more nominations than ever before, and more compliments from people than ever before.”
The Celebration and Awards Event helps support Cambridgeshire's commitment to creating a fairer and more caring Cambridgeshire, particularly the ambition that “Children and Young People have opportunities to thrive”.
