The Mayor of Solihull, Cllr Sardul Singh Marwa MBE JP, has announced Our Voice, Our Services (OVOS) as his second chosen mayoral charity for 2026-27.

On 26 June, the mayor visited Chelmunds Place to meet with staff and young people involved with OVOS, Solihull's Children in Care Council.

The charity supports care-experienced children and young people across the borough through participation opportunities, activities and support services.

Whilst he was there, the mayor had the chance to speak to Eve Carter, a care-experienced young person who was regularly involved with OVOS while growing up.

The pair also discovered a personal connection, with Cllr Marwa having previously worked with and been a close friend of Eve's great grandfather, Frank Carter, who was the Lord Mayor of Birmingham from 1985-86.

During his visit, the mayor took the opportunity to understand more about the ways in which OVOS has been able to help young people across Solihull and spoke with staff to discuss their day-to-day work and the impact they have on helping care-experienced young people.

Speaking after the visit, Cllr Marwa praised the charity's work, saying:

"The work that OVOS does with care-experienced children and young people across the borough is fantastic. Not only are they able to help with accessing and maximising all the support available to those in need, but they treat care-experienced children and young people as if they were their own family, with the utmost respect and kindness.

"Being able to speak to the workers who make it happen, and people like Eve, who could speak nothing but fondly about her time growing up with OVOS, truly highlights how invaluable the work they do for care-experienced children and young people across Solihull is.

"Id like to wish OVOS continued success, and I am honoured to be able to support them during my year in office."

OVOS works to ensure the voices of care-experienced children and young people are heard in the design and delivery of local authority services, while providing opportunities to socialise and learn new skills.

Yvonne Obaidy, operations manager for children's improvement and standards and manager of the OVOS team welcomed the mayor's support.

She said: "The work that OVOS does across Solihull has helped and continues to help so many care-experienced children and young people throughout the years, ensuring that our children can have fun in a safe and supportive setting, where their voices are heard, respected, and acted on to bring about meaningful change to the services they receive.

"Being one of the mayor's chosen charities will make such a valuable difference to our fundraising and the publicity we'll gain over the mayor's year in office."