Saturday 14th October marked our first Fostering Panel held in Hereford.
Panel members, lead by Panel Chair Dr. Andrea Warman, made it to Hereford from London by train, (despite the dreaded weekend engineering works at Reading!) to hold a Panel meeting in our Hereford office for three foster carer households.
Following the Panel meeting, we held Panel team building sessions. These included a Panel dinner where Panel members could get to know each other informally, and a walking tour of historical Hereford conducted by our Western Area Manager, Dave Bailey and his wife Amanda on the Sunday morning. Panel returned to London after a light lunch held on the banks of the River Wye. Doug Pearce, Registered Manager of Young People at Heart, Panel Administrator Sarah Sipple and Founders Gary and Davina Cox also attended the weekend activities.
At the Panel Dinner, Gary formally welcomed the Panel to Hereford for the first of three planned Panel meetings before the end of the year. He thanked them for their commitment to the organisation and he congratulated Dave Bailey on the successful launch Young People at Heart in Herefordshire. Gary was particularly pleased that enquiries had been received from applicants in the area new to fostering, as well as foster carers wishing to transfer with their young people in placement, and he wished Dave every success in improving the outcomes for young people in care in the region.