First private-sector business signs Welsh government’s charter to support care-experienced children and young people.
Premier Forest Products in Newport has become the first private-sector company to join a Welsh government scheme to act as corporate parents to care-experienced young people.
Photo by Annie Spratt / Unsplash.
Working in partnership with Newport City Council, the company offers paid work placements for up to six young people each year, alongside mentoring support and educational tutoring where it is needed. To date, 12 young people have benefited from placements across departments including finance, operations, logistics and manufacturing.
The experience helps provide confidence, structure and opportunities to move successfully into the world of work. Each mentee is also matched with an in-house mentor and receives wraparound support and, where applicable, funding for tuition and exam fees to GCSE level, all in a bid to help them achieve the basic qualifications needed to pursue a chosen field.
While Premier Forest Products is the first private-sector company to join the scheme, to date some 73 public and third sector organisations have signed up to become corporate parents under the Welsh government charter. Signatories agree to support a set of principles as they deliver existing services, design new ones and consider the support and opportunities they can offer to care-experienced children and young people.
Corporate parenting is the name for the collective responsibility of local authorities and elected members to support and nurture every child or young person who enters the care system. The aim is to ensure that they have the same support and opportunities in life as all children and young people in Wales.
The latest signatory shows that the private sector can also play a role in helping these young people to flourish.
Terry Edgell, Group CEO of Premier Forest Products, says: ‘As a business, we have always believed that commercial success comes with social responsibility. The idea behind our corporate parenting programme is simple: if we can give these young people the same care, encouragement, and structure we would give our own children, we can change their life chances.
‘What started as a local pilot in Newport has become something much bigger. We are seeing the tangible difference this makes. Young people are now thriving, working, and believing in themselves again. Our goal is to roll this out nationally, and to inspire other employers to do the same.’
Dawn Bowden MS, Minister for Children and Social Care, adds: ‘These work placements are a fantastic example of how corporate parenting works in practice. Through the scheme, Premier Forest Products helps equip care experienced young people to have high aspirations and to secure the best outcomes for themselves. I’m delighted they have become the first private sector company to sign, and complete, our corporate parenting charter.’
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