Awards success for Cheshire East’s children and families team
TEAMS which look after children and families are celebrating scooping a number of accolades.
Cheshire East Council won two awards at the Children and Young People Now Awards, came highly commended in a third category and made the shortlist in a fourth.
Staff, who are led by director of children’s services Tony Crane, walked away with the ‘children in care award’ for the council’s fostering capacity scheme, which awards grants to extend or adapt homes or buy new cars to meet the needs of fostering households.
As part of its work, the scheme funded an extension which has enabled a foster family to look after sibling groups, who can be hard to place.
The ‘partnership working award’ went to Cheshire Without Abuse, a charity commissioned by the council to support children affected by domestic violence and abuse. Its work includes one-to-one support and programmes to help build resilience or recover from trauma.
Meanwhile, Cheshire East’s early years and childcare team was highly commended for its early language development programme, while the council was also shortlisted for the ‘youth justice award’ for its programme to tackle harmful sexual behaviour among young people.
Coun Rachel Bailey, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We aspire to be the best and the awards reflected the teams’ tremendous achievements, lifting the hearts of our staff who work so hard to ensure that we make a difference to the lives of children and young people in our communities.”