Good news, events and policy updates from Staf |
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Dear Friend, This month we have been celebrating the success of our work and our partners and highlighting the importance of collaboration. It was fantastic to attend the SCVO Gathering last week and meet with many likeminded people when we shared our work on creating #Changemakers in the care experienced community. As part of the SCVO event, alongside our colleagues at Barnardo’s and CYCJ, we donned our glad rags for the Charity Awards as representatives of Inside Out, our care experienced steering group at HMPYOI Polmont. Sadly, they were pipped at the post by the very excellent Simon Community but the boys and young men of Inside Out will forever be winners in our eyes. We hope they enjoy their celebration event this week. As lead hosts of the National Leadership Network we, and our fellow partners are supporting their efforts to recruit care experienced people aged 14+ from across Scotland who will be responsible for decision making, allocating funding and evaluating the work of the NLN. If you know anyone who might be interested, please direct them to the NLN Twitter page or email ypceleadership@thenln.org Save the date! Yes, our National Conference will be taking place in person this year! We’re excited to reveal that the full day event will be taking place at the University of Stirling on Wednesday 23rd November. More details including speakers and booking info will be shared after the summer but for now please mark this day off in your diaries! We can’t wait to get so many of you back in one room together to share, learn and connect. This month we have also marked the first stage of being secretariat to the newly formed Cross Party Group on Care Leavers. It was great to get so many passionate people from across the sector in one virtual space to discuss the plan for future meetings, all based around the policy priorities identified by our Care Leavers Forum. We’d love to see more of you at our next meeting, especially those with lived experience of care, so please do email jack@staf.scot to be added to the CPG mailing list. Our focus groups and forums are taking a wee hiatus over the summer break (as I hope some of you are too) but we will be back in September with our Care Leavers Into Employment, Local Authority Manager’s Forum and Participation Practitioner's Forum followed by Supported Lodgings, Supported Carers and Implications of Continuing Care focus groups in October. Thank you to all those who’ve attended our groups so far. Your valued feedback has been shared with MSPs in our quarterly Policy and Practice Briefings and collaborative opportunities have arisen. If you’ve not yet joined one of these groups, we’d love to see some new faces there to ensure we can capture and connect as many voices of the workforce as possible. Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Chair and CEO of Aberlour, SallyAnn Kelly who has received a hugely well deserved OBE for services to children and families in Scotland. For as long as I have known SallyAnn, she has never wavered in her demand to achieve the very best for young people, particularly those in our care. We look forward to continuing to work with her do ensure the outcomes for care leavers in Scotland are no different from anyone else. Best wishes,
Jo Derrick
Staf CEO
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Staf Projects
Youth Justice Voices
Youth Just Us - Care and Justice Experienced Steering Group
- The findings of the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII) into Socially Just Justice was launched at the CYCJ National Youth Justice Conference last week. Check out the great video which was created with and voiced by members of Youth Just Us.
- Youth Just Us also took part in lightening talk on Inside out and ran a workshop on rights, relationships and creativity and they were joined by Grant Trainer from Police Scotland who had lots of positive feedback to share on our work.
- Youth Just Us took part in CYCJ young people’s sessions on the care and justice bill and a few members also responded to the consultation directly.
- Ruth and Kev facilitated workshops at the Making Children's Rights Real: UNCRC,GIFREC and The Promise.
- Youth Just Us were treated to a private tour of the Yard Works Festival and the murals thanks to Gaz Mac at SWG3.
- Youth Just Us are currently keen to recruit more members to be part of the fun so are working on designing flyers, a brand new video, and much more. If you, or someone you know is passionate about having fun, influencing change and are aged 16-25 with experience of both the care and justice systems then get in touch with Ruth.
Inside Out - Care experienced steering group at HMPYOI Polmont
- Representatives of Inside Out attended the Scottish Charity Awards where they were shortlisted for the Pioneering Project Award. They sadly missed out but they will be having their own celebration event this week.
- The boys and young men have been working on their second edition of the newsletter where they have been exploring creative writing and coming up with some cracking jokes, blogs and interviews. This will go out to all the children and young people currently in Polmont.
- We are continuing to form our own guidance to help care experienced boys and young men in Polmont.
You can keep up to date with Youth Just Us and Inside Out at @YJVScotland on Twitter.
The Real Toolkit
The Real Toolkit, a leaving care resource by Staf, is available here.
You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our progress or if you'd like to get involved please email katrina@staf.scot. Scottish Care Leavers Forum The group are writing up what they hope to achieve over the next few months in relation to the policy areas they are concerned with – Finance/Education/Terminology which have been fed into the workplan for the Cross Party Group on Care Leavers. They have also started to plan the event in December, and we will start to invite people over the next few weeks and focus on the social media/engagements for this. We have been discussing developing a module with CLD standards Scotland for care experienced to be discussed in community development/education courses – the group would love to see modules developed where care experience is spoke about in primary and secondary education too. The group have also met with Who Cares Scotland? and Aberlour to input on the Care leavers guaranteed income are planning a meeting with the First Minister in the coming months.
Get in touch with katrina@staf.scot if you'd like to get involved and influence change for care leavers! National Leadership Network Update from NLN Development Co-ordinator, Gary Brown- The Interim Oversight Board have led the work on a paid opportunity to be part of a group who will be responsible for decision making, allocating funding and evaluating the work of the National Leadership Network. Check our Twitter page (@ypceleadership) or email ypceleadership@thenln.org for more information.
- A draft version of a potential website has been designed by a young person. We have been asking young people about their thoughts on the need for an NLN website and most people we have spoken to think we should develop one.
- A recent meeting with young people and staff interested in the NLN highlighted issues of complex communication in the care experience community and issues around paid work for people with care experience regarding support, organisational needs being met and more.
- Interactive sessions on the NLN have been delivered to Resilience Learning Partnership and Who Cares? Scotland staff teams.
- Planning continues for national roadshow. The first 3 events will take place in Aberdeen, East Renfrewshire and Rossie. All events are being planned with partner agencies and young people.
- The NLN is now on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
- Gary Brown recently took part in a Facebook live session with Olivia Khan from South Ayrshire Champs to talk about the NLN and leadership in general.
- NLN staff continue to meet with many relevant project and organisations. Recently this has included Intandem where we were keen to know more about their work focused on the looked after at home community. We also met with Jimmy Paul to find out more about WEALL Scotland (Wellbeing Economy Alliance) and the work they do.
We are continuing to share various opportunities and experiences for young people and offer support when required. For more information on any of the above please contact ypceleadership@thenln.org |
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Staf Policy and Practice
School Leaver's Toolkit My World of Work have published their online School Leaver's Toolkit full of information about options available to those leaving school. We were delighted The Real Toolkit has been designated as the bespoke link for those looking for information relevant to those with care experience. |
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National Care Service Bill - Impact for Care Leavers
Following consultation, the Scottish Government has published their National Care Service bill, citing an end to post code lotteries in terms of care provision. Crucially for those involved in Throughcare and Aftercare the NCS at present is only in relation to adult social work services with further public consultation is required before determining whether children's and justice social work services are to be included. |
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COSLA Report: We Will Keep The Promise COSLA has published their report detailing how Local Authorities intend to Keep the Promise. The report draws on achievements made to date and areas requiring more attention alongside some examples of work being carried out by individual Local Authorities to #KeepThePromise. We've pulled out the information relevant to those working in Throughcare and Aftercare and care leavers.
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Social Work Scotland Report: Setting The Bar Social Work Scotland have this month published their report following feedback from their members. It has revealed a workforce which is stretched with unmanageable workloads. With the number of workers looking to retire in the years ahead, and dwindling numbers of qualified graduates, there is also a serious recruitment issue on the horizon. Action to fill that gap and ensure the workforce is strengthened, supported and with reduced caseloads is required now. |
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Cross Party Group on Care Leavers Thank you to those who attended our meeting to set out the workplan for the Cross Party Group. It was a great discussion, led by the priorites identified by care leavers in the Care Leavers Forum; Finance, Education and Terminology. We will be sending details of the next meeting shortly. If you would like to be added to the membership list please email jack@staf.scot
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Apply now for Care Experienced Bursary SAAS are encouraging any young person who is looking to apply for funding, including the Care Experienced Bursary, to apply ASAP and by the 30th June at the latest. They don't need to wait for their grades to come in or for an unconditional offer and by applying for the funds now will ensure they will be ready for them at the start of term.
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REMINDER: Pets In Care: Edinburgh University picks up where Project Return left off
We are delighted to be supporting Edinburgh University's Children and Adolescent and Animals Research (CARR) Group who are looking into the impact of pets on the lives of those with care experience, inspired by the Pets in Care Survey work of Project Return.
If you know someone who is 16 - 20 years old with care experience and has had a pet in their life please ask them to take part in their short survey, or take part in one to one discussions, to help support young people own a pet in care settings.
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Consultations of Interest The following government consultation is open and likely to be of interest:
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Improving Victims Experiences of the Justice System: Deadline 5 Aug
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Physical Intervention in Schools Guidance Consultation: Deadline 25 Oct
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Staf Events Our full calendar of events for the remainder of 2022 is available to access, including focus groups which are free for Staf members, webinars and conferences for you to learn from and give you an opportunity to connect with your peers and care leavers.
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Care Leavers Into Employment Focus Group Tuesday 13th September 10am - 12pm (Teams)
Our Care Leavers into Employment focus group tackles the issues faced by young people in both accessing and sustaining employment, education and training. This group brings together workers from across the public and third sector to discuss and dissect current practice issues.
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Local Authority Manager's Forum Wednesday 14th September, 10am - 12pm (Teams)
Our Local Authority Manager's Forum has been created exclusively for local authority members to give you space to discuss the issues that matter to you, given your unique statutory responsibility in delivering service for care leavers.
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Participation Practitioners' Forum Thursday 29th September, 10am - 12pm (Zoom) The participation practitioners' forum is a free event for participation workers supporting young people with care and justice experience to connect with, and learn from, each other: sharing successes, reflecting on challenges, and championing examples of best practice in an informal setting.
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Implications of Continuing Care Focus Group Tuesday 25th October 10am - 12pm (Teams)
Meeting since 2014, the Implications of Continuing Care focus group offers a safe place to discuss issues and practice arising from Part 11 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The recent work of this group has discussed commissioning placements, fostering fees and payments and shared good practice from across Scotland.
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Supported Lodgings, Supported Carers Focus Group Tuesday 25th October, 2pm - 4pm (Teams)
The Supported Lodgings, Supported Carers focus group provides a supportive forum to share good practice, local and national developments, and discuss issues around Care Inspectorate inspections.
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Staf National Conference 2022 Wednesday 23rd November, 9.30am - 4pm, University of Stirling
We're delighted to announce that this year's Staf National Conference will take place in person at the Stirling Court Hotel, Stirling University. We can't wait to get so many of you together to discuss pertinent issues amongst those who support young people leaving care. Full programme details and booking information will be shared in due course. If you would like to be added to the priority notice mailing list, please email marion@staf.scot.
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Member of the Month: Action for Children
Action for Children is a UK wide charity which has it's own Scottish team which supports the countries most disadvantaged children and young people including fostering services and support for families. In relation to care leavers they provide support around accessing education, training and employment in their Discovering Your Potential scheme in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Renfrewshire which we featured at our Summit in March. In addition they have recently launched their Core Skills course which is aimed at young people, aged 16-17, who have left school without any formal qualifications and therefore have little to put on their CVs. For a referral form please contact jack.mcdermott@actionforchildren.org
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If you would like to be featured in our Member of the Month section please email marion@staf.scot |
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Current Vacancies
Youth Director: Care Experienced Young Person Board representative
As an organisation who gives a voice to care experienced young people, we are keen to increase their representation on our Board by appointing a new Youth Director.
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Board Treasurer
Do you have financial experience you want to put to good use? Do you have a day a month to help Staf achieve it's vision? Would you like to be part of a passionate and enthusiastic Board who care deeply about the outcomes for care leavers? Then you may just the person we are looking for.
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What #WeLove this month... 💜 Good Shepheard Centre's amazing pride cake! Check it out on Twitter.
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Want to find out more about Staf events, projects, membership and training opportunities? |
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We would love to hear from you. Get in contact via email on info@staf.scot or through our social media channels linked below. |
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