SOS card to help children in foster care

 

Cheshire East Council has teamed up with the NHS to launch a new card scheme that will help children with disabilities, should they become separated from their foster carer.

The card will be held by the child or young person and should provide the emergency services with valuable and immediate information about them, should their foster carer be injured or separated from them for any length of time.

The card will include photo identification as well as the following information:

• Details of the child’s main contacts;
• Advice on how best to communicate with the child;
• A list of medication/ allergies;
• A list of risks and dangers; and
• Helpful hints and tips – such as favourite toys, food and drinks.

The SOS card has been produced in partnership with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP).

It will be launched at an event at Macclesfield Town Hall on Friday, May 18. This will coincide with Foster Care Fortnight, which runs from May 14 – 27.

Councillor Hilda Gaddum, Cabinet member with responsibility for children and family services, said: “This card is an excellent idea and one that will really help some of the children in our care in the event of an emergency.

“It is vitally important that we continue to improve links and the way we share information with our colleagues in other public services. This card is a new way of doing this.”

Barbara Baker, general manager of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a fantastic initiative highlighting the essential relationship between health and social care in supporting foster carers.

“The card provides important information that improves outcomes for any young person in the case of an emergency. The service is proud to have been involved in the development of this initiative.”  

Andrea Edmondson, safeguarding practitioner at North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “This is a really positive initiative, one which I am delighted the Trust is a part of. The card will really help clinicians in their roles to help deliver care to these children.”