Dear Friend
Welcome to the Staf October newsletter as we reflect on Care Experienced Week.
Under this year’s theme of ‘Belonging and Connection’, we took the opportunity to celebrate the care experienced community, as we amplified their voices, along with those of our workforce. In line with Staf’s core values, we shared the work we do to listen, care and love. We also reflected the key themes we heard about from ‘Moving On’ experts during the 100 Days of Listening, and the work Staf is now leading on to translate that into opportunities for change.
This week is also an opportunity for us to amplify the excellent work our members are doing. Please follow us @StafScot on social media and tag us in what you did to celebrate. You can also drop us an email at info@staf.scot with anything you would like us to share, and we will feature some highlights in our next newsletter.
In this newsletter, we reflect on the success of our three supportive workforce residentials to date. In order to create that safe place of belonging and connection for the young people we support, our workforce must be well equipped to ensure wellbeing is a priority. This includes the importance of reflective supervision, and we are delighted to be well on our way to developing a new supervision framework for TCAC teams that prioritises time and space to reflect. Thank you to everyone who has attended so far, and we look forward to seeing more of you in the new year.
Huge congratulations are due to the team at the National Leadership Network, the great work of which was formally recognised at the Scottish Parliament last month, with a motion from Martin Whitfield MSP.
Our Youth Justice Voices team is happy to welcome a new member this month, as Jack joins us to take the lead on all things North East.
Our thanks go to all our members who took part in recent engagement sessions with the team from the Scottish Government, or contributed in other ways to Staf’s response to the ‘Moving On’ from care into adulthood consultation.
We still have a busy calendar of events for the rest of this year – notably our annual Staf National Conference on 21 November in Stirling. There are still a few spaces left, but our flagship event sells out every year, so get your tickets while you can. Among a host of other great speakers, our consultants will be presenting their work on a Minimum Income Guarantee blueprint, a project we are proud to say is being led by members of the Care Experienced community.
We are also looking forward to the rescheduled Cross Party Group on Care Leavers, and our upcoming Participation Network Gathering – another great example of co-production with our steering group, where we bring the workforce together with young people ‘moving on’ from care. Finally, please make sure you register for our upcoming forums and focus groups in the final quarter, which are free to attend for all Staf members. Best wishes
Jo Derrick
Staf CEO | | Staf's response to the 'Moving On' consultationEarlier this month, we finalised our response to the Scottish Government’s ‘Moving On’ from care into adulthood consultation.
As you will see, our approach has been to draw on the voices of our workforce members, project participants and staff team. Additionally, we have included calls for change generated by our members and Care Experienced people, along with the voices of 'moving on' experts who contributed to 100 Days of Listening.
As Scotland’s only national membership organisation dedicated to supporting the TCAC workforce to support Care Experienced people to flourish as they transition to adulthood, we stand ready to play a supporting and leading role in the next steps of the consultation response, alongside our members and people with lived experience of Scotland’s care system.
If we are to ensure that our nation creates an effective, compassionate and holistic support system that helps Care Experienced people feel secure and loved during a critical phase in their life journey, it is crucial that we continue to connect workforce, policymakers and Care Experienced people together.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this consultation response; we will continue this journey of change together. | | | | | |
Youth Justice Voices North East We are pleased to announce our new Youth Development Worker, Jack Tully, will be leading on Youth Justice Voices North East. If you work in this area and are interested in finding out more, you can contact jack@staf.scot to get involved. Youth Just Us We are making some changes to our Youth Just Us group, which now runs on a Tuesday evening in Glasgow. We also attended the Arts in the City event on the 17 October and The Sound Lab's 25 years of music event on 12 October. Thank you for having us! Inside Out We held sessions recently with The Prison Lawyer and Clan Childlaw around rights and accessing them inside HMPYOI Polmont. We also had the Scottish Government team consulting the group on the recent 'Moving On' from care into adulthood consultation. We soon will have Fraser and Thomas from The Promise Scotland coming to speak to the boys about the next phases of the 'Moving On' Change Programme. The boys are also busy planning their celebration event for December, where they will have the opportunity to show off what they have been up to over the past year.
Keep up to date with the work of Youth Justice Voices on X. | | | Tackling youth violence in Scotland
Longstanding Staf and Youth Just Us member, Danny, along with our Participation & Rights Manager, Ruth, were recently invited to Dumfries House to meet King Charles and Depute Prime Minister, Angela Rayner MP. They took part in a roundtable discussion with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU), The King's Foundation, and allies in the care and justice sectors, about the challenges and opportunities for young people in Scotland.
We were invited to be part of this discussion on Scotland’s approach to tackling youth violence, hosted by The King's Foundation in collaboration with The King's Trust (formerly The Prince's Trust). We were part of a small group of organisations and individuals recommended by the SVRU as part of the solution, and from which the King and Depute Prime Minister would like to learn, following a similar discussion in England earlier this year.
Staf and Youth Justice Voices was regarded as a positive example of amplifying voice, providing positive opportunities, and influencing change in the care and justice systems in Scotland. Danny and Ruth were also taken on a tour of Dumfries House and learned more about the work of the Kings Foundation. | | New online Resource Hub live
This summer, we launched the new Life Changes Trust (LCT) Resource Hub, which hosts resources for professionals, shaped by young people with care experience. The Hub offers anyone who is interested in improving the lives of young people with care experience, the opportunity to benefit and learn from the investment of the LCT programme, including those with lived experience. You can search for useful resources to develop your practice and contribute your own resources too. | | | |
| 'Moving On' Change Programme
What we heard from ‘Moving On’ Experts during 100 Days of Listening has since been complimented by research with 24 Scottish local authorities, led by the Improvement Service. All of this work has enabled the programme to affirm its own change aim and the change opportunities the programme is now pursuing. The change aims for the programme are to: Review The Promise Plan 21-24 and the 24-30 Route Map and Themes Draw on good practice to influence a set of Standards and Principles Contribute to The Promise Bill by identifying policy and legislative barriers Provide a coordinated overview of the change landscape for 'Moving On' Identify areas for change in terms of pace and priorities Develop a programme of opportunities to share learning and solutions Select areas for co-design using blueprinting methodologies Accelerate innovation by initiating tests of change Collaborate with key stakeholders to streamline improvements Offer insights to the National Survey and ‘Moving On’ from care into adulthood consultation
There have been 14 change opportunities identified that the programme is now delivering on. Five change approaches have been identified to deliver improvements in those areas, which are being led by project teams to maximise focus and impact. Blueprinting Tests of Change Learning and Development Policy and Legislation Standards and Principles
Staf is delighted to be leading on this work as we take real action for the benefit of our membership, but more importantly, for the children and young people relying on us to support the teams around them to ensure a 'moving on' from care experience that is safe, loving and respectful. | | | |
Steering Group On 23 September, The Steering Group launched the NLN Funding Strategy 2024-26 plus an opportunity for two projects to be funded up to £50,000 over the next two years. This has been a huge piece of work that started with a blank sheet of paper in April. It has been six months of considering data and research, debating (respectfully), thinking, reflecting and working collectively to produce something of which everyone is very proud.
NLN recognised in the Scottish Parliament
Following the publication of our Funding Strategy, the document and the work from our Steering Group in pulling it together was recognised in the Scottish Parliament. The motion, from Martin Whitfield MSP, welcomed the strategy, commended the work of #TeamNLN and called for organisations to apply for funding.
Consultants The team of four have started working with Braw Talent on an NLN animation. One of the Consultants has been doing some work on progressing NLN merch. Another Consultant has started some work around capturing the relationships that happen in the NLN. Watch this space for more information.
Perth College/UHI – Community Learning and Development In September, two recordings were sent to UHI Perth, which include the NLN sharing the Community Learning and Development thread that weaves throughout the project. This work was supported by one of the NLN Consultants.
Cutting Aboot The Cutting Aboot travel research team are in the thick of conducting focus groups, with sessions all over Scotland delivered and planned. Really interesting themes are emerging throughout the process, and the team look forward to launching the report at the Staf National Conference in November.
Partnership working In September, the NLN attended a meeting with YMCA Tayside in Perth to see their new building, and to discuss how the NLN can support their Care Experienced community. We also met with our friends at the Gannochy Trust to talk about all things funding related. We also met with ex-Life Changes Trust (LCT) staff member Celeste Berteau to catch up on the work around the LCT's legacy and NLN funding, and to hear how things are going at The Promise Scotland.
Communications Staf has helped with developing new versions of the NLN logo we can use in different spaces. We have started working with partners, friends and allies on the next five leadership focused blogs, which are nearly ready to promote. These blogs link to influences, family, community, empowerment, supporting others, leadership not being about one person, and so much more. Two young people also blog about their experience of being part of an NLN funded project. We are keen to promote more blogs on leadership, so please feel free to let people know about this opportunity, which is open to anyone.
As always, this is a bit of snapshot of some of the things #TeamNLN are working on. If you would like more information on anything mentioned here, please contact gary@thenln.org. | | | | |
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