ISP’s Children and Young People Awards 2024 Finalists
We're proud to be a finalist in three categories at the 2024 Children and Young People Awards, honoring foster parents, support workers, and fostering services dedicated to helping young people thrive.
Hosted by Care Talk magazine, the annual Children and Young People Awards celebrate excellence across the entire social care sector, including services for children and young people in care.
The awards recognise the extraordinary work of foster parents, as well as the contributions of individuals and organisations working to improve outcomes for care experienced young people.
At ISP, we’re thrilled to have been nominated as a finalist in three award categories, including The Foster Carer and Support Worker Award and the Fostering and Adoption Award. A gala dinner awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, 24th October 2024, in Birmingham, where the winners will be announced.
Among the finalists is ISP foster parent Sammy, who is in the running for the Foster Carer Award. This award recognises individuals who have shown exceptional commitment and perseverance to their young people, even in the most challenging circumstances, and have gone the extra mile to make a positive difference.
Sammy’s personal journey with fostering is truly inspiring. Despite facing earth-shattering news of her own cancer diagnosis, she continued to put the young people in her care at the heart of her family. Upon being diagnosed, Sammy’s immediate thoughts turned to her children—including those in her care—and how she would prepare them for what was to come.
Most importantly for the young people in her care, she wanted to ensure they felt reassured that they wouldn’t be going anywhere. This stability is particularly significant for care-experienced young people, many of whom know all too well the fear of uncertainty.
Sammy’s selflessness is evident in her tireless dedication to supporting and advocating for the children in her care, even during the most challenging times. She has now come out the other side of her battle with cancer and never stopped caring for others throughout her journey.
Another finalist is our incredible Fostering Advisor, Sue Elwin, who’s nominated for the Support Worker Award. This award recognises individuals who play a crucial role in providing high-quality care and support to young people and families—something Sue embodies in abundance.
With over 40 years of experience in the care sector, including 8 years as a fostering advisor with ISP, Sue uses her sense of humour, creativity, and holistic approach to inspire and empower the families and young people she supports to thrive.
She’s also a highly supportive and valued member of our team, always ready to offer her insights and ideas to help others overcome the challenges they may face.
Finally, we are incredibly proud to announce that ISP Fostering has made it as a finalist for the Fostering and Adoption Award, which recognises an exceptional fostering or adoption service that goes above and beyond in striving to find families for young people who need them the most.
At ISP, we always endeavour to do whatever we can so the children and young people in our care thrive. There’s never a one-size-fits-all approach to supporting young people living with trauma. Instead, we have a holistic approach where all the adults working around a child can work together to ensure each and every young person in our care receive the tailored, therapeutic support that’s right for them.
Our foster parents benefit from high-quality training through our City & Guilds assured Therapeutic Pathway training programme, as well as access to a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, including social workers, fostering advisors, therapists, advisory teachers, and more. Together, we help young people in care begin to heal from their early trauma and prepare for a healthy and fulfilling adulthood. We are so unbelievably proud to have our contribution to young people in care recognised by the Children and Young People’s Awards.
Wishing all the finalists the best of luck at the awards! There are so many incredible individuals up for recognition, each truly deserving of taking home an award for their dedication to young people in care. It’s inspiring to see so many people celebrated for their achievements and the impactful work they do to help young people flourish.