New books launched to help children receiving social care

Book marked to provide support to young children receiving social care, Essex County Council (ECC) have helped to launch a series of one-of-a-kind picture books.

Five new books – written by James henry and illustrated by Valeria Valenza – have been produced with the help if young people who have experienced support from Essex social services. The books were created with an aim to addressing issues they have encountered during their social care journey.

Young people worked together in workshops to develop the main themes of the books and met with the author in a series of Zoom calls to share their experiences with him.

Cllr Beverley Egan, ECC Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Early Years, said: ‘The books are a unique way of ensuring that any child that needs to move away from their family home, for whatever reason, is well-supported.

‘Importantly, they’ve been developed with input from children and young people from Essex who have had a social worker, spent time in care, or have been adopted themselves, so their lived experiences have helped to shape the content.

‘They’re also bright, colourful and engaging and we have had fantastic feedback so far from the professionals and adults who will be using them.’

Each novel in the series focuses on a different subject, including coming into care, social work, grief, loss, reunification, and adoption.

The first of the five books, ‘A New House for Little Mouse’, in the series was originally published in 2020 and its success inspired the creation of four more. The new books that have followed include:

• ‘Little Robot’s School Play’ – for children who live with other family members, such as kinship carers and special guardians
• ‘Dino and Bun’ – for children who have experienced adoption
• ‘Koala and Panda’ – for children who are living at home with family but require support from a social worker
• ‘Looking after little’ – for children who have experienced being in care and are being reunified with their families

Launched during a special celebration event, hosted by Essex’s Involvement Service and care leavers, the books were provided to the local authority on Tuesday.

Author James Henry said: ‘I was honoured to be asked to work on this wonderful innovative project alongside the illustrator Valeria Valenza and the teams from ECC, as well as teenagers and children who had experience of social care support.

‘Together, I think we developed some really special stories which I hope will help children and their carers who are taking their first steps through such a difficult time.’

Research from the National Literacy Trust has also shown that children and young people who like to read are three times more likely to have better mental health than those who do not, suggesting young people who have had quite a disrupted childhood may benefit from starting to read at a young age.

Photo by Susan Q Yin