Your Rights: Review Meetings
What are Review Meetings?
While you are in care, there will be regular meetings arranged. These are to ensure you are safe and well, and that everyone involved in supporting you is doing their job to help you. These are often referred to as ‘Review Meetings’.
Your wishes and feelings should be listened to and taken into account within these meetings.
This does not mean that everything you want to happen will happen- your social worker and other individuals involved in supporting you will have to be sure that whatever decisions they make keep you safe- but they must take into consideration your views.
Who should attend Review Meetings?
As long as it is safe for you to attend, you should be invited to these meetings. If you do not want to attend, your social worker should speak to you about how you want your views presented in another way. For example, you might want to write a letter, do a voice recording or present your views through a drawing, story or poem.
Your social worker should meet with you at least 20 working days before a review meeting to speak about if you would like to attend, and who will be there. Usually, your parents and your carer would be invited to attend the meeting, but if there is a reason you don’t want a certain person to attend, you should let your social worker know about this.
How do I get support?
If you would like support in this meeting, you might want to get an advocate to attend with you.
All children in care, and care leavers up to the age of 25 who come under the status of ‘former relevant child’, are entitled to an advocate.
An advocate is someone whose job is to make sure the local authority are giving you the support you are entitled to, who can help you to understand decisions made by the Local Authority and who can help you to challenge the Local Authority. You can find out more about advocacy, and find your local advocate here.