Guest blog by Andi Brierley, Child Looked After and Care Leaver Specialist within the Leeds Youth Justice Service and Child Friendly Leeds City. Author of: ‘Your Honour Can I Tell You My Story’ My name is Andi Brierley and I am currently a Child Looked After and Care Leaver Specialist within the Leeds Youth Justice … Continue reading Creating a platform for the voice and influence of children with experience of both the Care and Youth Justice System | Andi Brierley | @Andibrierley
Language That Cares A glossary of words and terms that aims to change the language of the care system has been published. Language That Cares is a collaborative effort led by adoption and fostering charity TACT (The Adolescent and Children’s Trust) and the charity’s children and care experienced young people, with contributions from 15 … Continue reading Language That Cares | PCF @TACTCare #spreadtheword
It has become clear that there is very limited information for or about LGBTQI young people in care. There is an ad hoc, react as we go approach across many local authorities, care agencies, foster carers, social workers and health professionals. Some may be doing excellent work but it has been hard to identify that … Continue reading #LGBT youth in care resources
The Care Leavers Christmas 2018 by Aine Kelly in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England: Megan and I are care leavers and we are trying to create a Christmas for other care leavers who will be spending Christmas alone. Nobody deserves to feel alone at Christmas! In 2016 we both attended the Oxfordshire Care Leavers Christmas – which some of you may remember. … Continue reading The Care Leavers Christmas 2018 | Aine Kelly #cep
Derek Owusu draws on personal experiences to argue that there needs to be more education about the needs of black children when being fostered I was eight years old when I first realised I was black. Before that, all I saw myself as was a ‘different kind of person’. No colour attached, but of course, visibly … Continue reading Foster families who ignore race are participating in a pernicious form of racism | Media Diversified #cep
Originally posted on December 1, 2018 by Lemn Sissay Shouldn’t our government and the well being of society be assessed above all by how it treats its child, the child in its care? If the answer is yes then it stands to reason that social workers should be the highest paid workers in local government. … Continue reading On Social Workers | By Lemn Sissay
How a care-leaver self-published his childhood story and was invited to European Parliament Please watch and share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voFxd1BjqeE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0UUGfuvoFI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9rCSGKxyJo In less than a year debut-author, street musician and care-leaver Ben Westwood’s book Poems From a Runaway has gone from strength-to-strength as social workers, foster parents, missing children’s charities and safeguarding boards embrace his … Continue reading How a care-leaver self-published his childhood story and was invited to European Parliament | Ben Westwood
In 2017 Coram Voice conducted a rapid review of around 80 UK studies that explored care leavers’ own accounts of their experiences and feelings. This is a summary of the key themes and issues that emerged from the review. The quotes used in this review are from the young people interviewed or consulted in the … Continue reading Care leavers’ views on their transition to adulthood | Coram Voice
"[...] we care about families. We care about people being able to help themselves. We believe in helping people to help themselves, but we are not doing that. We are simply saying, "The state will take care of this, because you have failed as a parent." What message does that send about our vision of … Continue reading #carecrisisreview
The experience of children in the care system informs much of the work carried out by Anne Longfield, OBE Children's Commissioner for England. Many of the calls to the Commissioner's Help at Hand advice line involves children worried about unwanted changes of carer, social worker or the impact of school moves. The Children in Care Stability Index has … Continue reading Stability Index 2018 | Report by the Children’s Commissioner for England
