Change is certainly in the air as Scotland continues to open up from the last 18 months of restrictions and lockdowns and l hope that you have all managed or will manage to have a break with friends and family over the summer.
As we all enter Level 0, in person meetings and events have become a reality for the young people we work with, making a huge difference to those all-important relationships, it has been great to re-connect in person with the young people who have all contributed so much to our work virtually.
Relationships are also at the forefront of #GetIntoSummer
Staf Summer Sessions in association with Scottish Forestry Commission, which are taking place, in person, throughout August and September at a location near you. There’s still time to sign up, I am looking forward to seeing many of you and your young people at one of these events. You can find out more and sign up on our
booking page.We have also seen movement on the policy front with publication of
The Promise Change Programme at the end of June, detailing the next steps on what we all need to do to #KeepThePromise. We’ve distilled the key elements relating to Throughcare and Aftercare for both care leavers and the workforce in our recent
blogs.
This week we have also celebrated the changes to laws which give greater rights to siblings in care which has implications for Local Authorities and Children’s Hearing Scotland. It’s really exciting and encouraging to see pledges from The Promise starting to be enacted. Have a read of
Clan Childlaw’s excellent article on what this means in practice.
As young people prepare to start or return to University or College, we are buoyed to read the first available stats on the Care Leaver Bursary uptake. This vital piece of funding has made a huge difference to young people’s ability to access and sustain further education although the report also makes clear that further work is needed to ensure they are accessing the additional support available. You can join us in September for a round table event with the SAAS to discuss the bursary and their new Corporate Parenting plan. If this sounds like something of interest email you can our Events Coordinator maria@staf.scot who will share further details when available.
In September we are also participating in
EuSARF 2021, which this year is on The Perspective of the Child. We have submitted information regarding
Shannon’s Box, the award-nominated welcome box designed for those entering care by care leaver Shannon Brown. The boxes are available to all local authorities so do get in touch if you’d like to know more.
Finally we are very excited to announce that
The Real Toolkit, the online resource coproduced for and by care leavers and the workforce will be officially launched in September. The team are hard at work completing the vital guides. To ensure you hear about the resource first you can sign up to receive their newsletter at
www.therealtoolkit.scot With Autumn on the horizon we hope things continue to change for the better and look forward to continuing to work with all of you to #KeepThePromise.
