Children and Young People's Services - Problems or Complaints

It's your right to speak out.

If you have a problem or complaint about our social care services for children and young people we want to know.

It's your right to speak out

Do you feel okay about what we do for you?
Has something gone wrong or are you unhappy with something we’ve done?
If we’ve said we won’t do something for you, have you been given our reasons for this?
Do you feel okay about the reasons we gave you?
Do you want to do something more about it?

We know it’s not always easy to speak out, but it’s your right to say how you feel about things that affect you and to be listened to.

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children and young people have the right to tell people what their views are on all things that affect them, and to be listened to.

The 1989 Children Act says that children and young people's views about their ‘care’ must be listened to.

Other laws say that the Children and Young People's Service must find somebody to help you sort things out if you have got a problem with us.

The Children and Young People's Service wants to know about any problems you have with our care of you. We can’t try and sort things out unless we know.

Things you say make things better for other young people.

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How can things be made better?

The first step to making things better is to talk to som

The first step to making things better is to talk to someone you trust about the problem. Talking to someone can often stop a small worry becoming a big one.

You could try talking to:

a member of your family
a relative
a friend
a teacher
a social worker
youth worker
religious leader
a member of staff where you live
someone who looks after you, such as a foster carer.

If you’re ‘looked after’ by Leicester City Council’s Children and Young People's Service, there’s a person called the Children’s Rights and Participation Officer who you could ask to try and help make things better. This person will make sure you know your rights and that you are treated fairly if, for example, you’re:

in residential care
in foster care
if you live with your family and you have a worker from the Children and Young People's Service who comes to see you
being adopted
leaving care
under a care order
if you go to any meetings that are organised by the Children and Young People's Service

Ring (0116) 2528409 to speak to the Children’s Rights and Participation Officer. You can leave a message on the answerphone if they are not there.

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What if things don’t get better?

If talking to someone you trust helps, then great! If not, there’s a complaints procedure that can be used to try and sort out the problem. Using the procedure, which is not as scary as it sounds, just means contacting the Complaints Manager. You can have someone help you or speak up for you any time when you’re using the procedure, the Complaints Manager can help with this too. It could involve an Independent Advocate.

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What does the Complaints Manager do?

The job of the Complaints Manager is to help you and social care staff look at the problem and make sure it’s sorted out fairly. The Complaints Manager is in charge of the complaints procedure, which has thres sorted out fairly. The Complaints Manager is in charge of the complaints procedure, which has three stages:

Stage 1:
Getting somebody to talk to you, and to other people, to try and sort the problem out. They will write to you to tell you what they’ve done.

Stage 2:
If talking doesn’t work, or you don’t want to use stage one, somebody called an Investigating Officer will look at the problem in a more formal way. Someone else called an Independent Person will make sure that the complaint is fairly investigated.

The Investigating Officer knows a lot about dealing with young people’s complaints. The Independent Person makes sure things are fair and are done properly.

Stage 3:
If, after this, you still don’t feel okay about what’s happened, you can ask for a Complaints Review Panel. Three people who don’t already know about the problem will take a fresh look at it. You can attend the panel meeting if you like - with a friend or someone you can trust.

While all this is going on, the Complaints Manager will make sure that you know what’s happening. If you’re still not happy at the end of stage three, then don’t give up. The Complaints Manager will let you know where you can get more help or advice. This is usually from the Local Government Ombudsman.

The Local Government Ombudsman investigate complaints about Council services. They would usually like you to complete this complaints procedure before they investigate, but you could contact them at any time.

Local Government Ombudsman

The Oaks No2

Westwood Way

Westwood Business Park

Coventry, CV4 8JB

Tel: 024 7682 0000

Fax: 024 7682 0001

Email: enquiries.coventry@lgo.org.uk

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