How the Voices in Participation Council works

The Voices in Participation (VIP) Council is open to any young person from 11 to 25 years old who are in care or left the care of the Isle of Man government up to the age of 25 years old.

The VIP Club is available for children aged 6 to 11.

All ages can have an input in different ways without being on the VIP Council.

You can:

• send us a text
• write to us by email or even post a letter
• talk to the Participation Officer

There is also a special VIP Club just for children younger than 11 years old. We meet up every few months to put our ideas forward.

We have people on the VIP Council who works on different things of interest which may also involve asking young people who are not on the VIP Council for their views.

Finally we ask everyone in care or who have left care, for their ideas at least once a year.

The Council meets once a month for about an hour and a half.

Some of the things we do are:

• meet in an equipped rooms for privacy and no distractions
• take notes of what is being talked about
• have a Chair(s) to lead the meetings
• decide on what is important to us and work on that
• respect each other and respect the way the VIP Council works, behave reasonably with each other - we do not mess around
• have the '5 minutes, 3 Strikes and you're out' rule about behaviour at our meetings

Other adults are welcome by invitation.

Notes will be sent out after meetings to all those in attendance.

We nominate representatives to join the committees, such as the Corporate Parenting Group.

We invite adults to come and give us information as we want or need it.

We request to meet various levels of management, including Senior Managers to meet and talk to us, so we can share our views.

We meet with the Director of Social Services and The Champion for Children and Young People in Care. We will give them our views several times a year.

If you are not on the council, we will involve others by:

• questionnaires
• website and email
• phone and text
• posters
• face to face visits

Take a look at our 'getting involved in projects' page for more information about becoming a VIP Council Member and what it involves. Alternatively feel free to contact: