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What is WMTD?
What are WMTD's aims?
What are WMTD's themes and objectives?
WMTD newsletters
WMTD products
Who are WMTD's partners in the UK?
Who are WMTD's partners in Europe?
WMTD Final Evaluation by NCB
What is WMTD?
The What Makes The Difference? project (WMTD) is working to identify ways to improve poor outcomes for older children in care and leaving care in England. To facilitate success, young people from care are at the heart of every aspect of the project. WMTD is a large partnership involving 60 organisations from national and local government, voluntary and independent sectors, with young people's charity Rainer as lead partner.
WMTD is partly funded by the European Social fund Equal initiative. Equal aims to test and promote new ways of combating discrimination and inequalities in relation to the labour market, through transnational co-operation.
What are WMTD's aims?
WMTD's stated aim is to influence national policy and practice by re-engineering of the education, training and employment support process for those in and leaving public care (15-24+ years) to increase their opportunity for sustainable employment amd enable them to reach their full potential.
The project runs from July 2005-December 2007. It pilots and evidences best practice across a range of leaving care services, alongside national and transnational partners.
The ethos of the project is to bring all partners together, with care leavers fully empowered and at the centre of the work. It uses a solution focussed approach to define, develop and implement sustainable excellence in leaving care practice.
What are WMTD's themes and objectives?
The project has 4 themes and 7 objectives
Preparation & Planning
- Design, develop and test an accredited preparation programme for carers and workers (foster, residential, supported accommodation, leaving care Personal Advisors, social workers and specialist workers) and to pilot that programme across participating authorities and organisations.
Empowerment
- To identify models of service user involvement best practice and develop these across partner authorities.
- To design, develop and test models of peer mentoring/support, mentoring and advocacy within participating authorities and organisations.
Education & Training
- To design, develop and test models of education support for care leavers across partner authorities.
- To test the impact of individual tuition funding on educational outcomes for care leavers.
Employment Opportunity
- To develop models that increase work experience and employment opportunities for care leavers.
- To identify employment best practice for care leavers and evaluate impact on outcomes.
Who are WMTD's partners in the UK?
WMTD's partners are drawn from all sectors - national and local government and the voluntary sector. Our evidence and research base is drawn from around 40 local authorities providing services to care leavers in England.
Rainer
The national charity for under-supported young people. Rainer is WMTD's lead partner.
A National Voice (ANV)
A national organisation run by and for young people from Care.
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Department for Education and Skills (DfES)
Search official information on education and skills.
Gloucestershire County Council
HM Prison Service
Information about the work carried out in prisons throughout England and Wales.
Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
Responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16's in England.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH) Leaving Care Service
The National Children's Bureau (NCB)
A charitable organisation that acts as an umbrella body for organisations working with children and young people in England and Northern Ireland.
The National Leaving Care Advisory Service (NLCAS)
NLCAS at Rainer exists to improve the life chances of young people leaving care.
The National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum
The NLCBF is the only national network of local authorities on leaving care. Its aim is to benchmark services to young people leaving care with a view to promoting the development of good practice in member authorities.
Rainer Surrey 16plus Service
Rainer Surrey 16 plus Service works with 16 - 21 year olds in and leaving care.
The Social Exclusion Unit - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
The Fostering Network
The Fostering Network is the UK's leading charity for everyone with a personal or professional involvement in fostering.
The Frank Buttle Trust
The Frank Buttle Trust is the largest UK charity providing grant aid to individual children and young people in desperate need.
The Princes Trust
The UK charity that helps young people to overcome barriers and get their lives working, through practical support including training, mentoring and financial assistance.
The Thomas Coram Research Unit
Part of the Coram Family charity that aims to develop and promote best practice in the care of vulnerable children and their families.
The University of York, Social Work Research and Development Unit (SWRDU)
The SWRDU includes research, dissemination, consultancy and service development in the areas of social work and associated services for children and young people.
The Who Cares? Trust
A national charity working to improve public care for children and young people who are separated from their families and living in residential or foster care.
Voice
A charity undertaking research with children and young people.
Wandsworth Independent Living Scheme (WILS)
Rainer WILS provides an assessment, preparation and supported accommodation service to young people who have been looked after by the London Borough of Wandsworth social services department.
Who are WMTD's partners in Europe?
As an Equal funded project, WMTD is partnered with project for young people in care and careleavers in Lodz, Poland. Our Polish colleagues’ project, “Leaving a Children’s Home – New Opportunities, Better Tomorrow”, is also concerned with improving outcomes for young people leaving care. Both projects are funded by Equal and have an overall focus of improving employability.
The Polish project has a strong focus on specific activities around employment such as access to work experience and placements and career and vocational counselling, bringing local businesses on board and helping to recognise their social responsibility to support care leavers and offer them work experience. Within this they also recognise the need young people have for emotional support and assistance as they move into independence.
The two projects have been working closely together since 2005, sharing information and best practice through exchange visits between London and Lodz.