Dear Friend
I hope our latest newsletter finds you well. As the summer begins to fade, of course ever hopeful of a last hurrah of warm weather, we’re looking ahead to a jam-packed season of events and opportunities for the workforce and care leavers but also with a close eye on wider issues facing our communities.
It’s great to see such an appetite for our forums, which are filling up nicely. Our Local Authority Manager’s Forum returns on the 14th September where we are delighted to be joined by Elaine Gallagher from the Department of Work and Pensions who will be discussing the support they can offer care leavers. In addition, we’ll be taking a look at Plan 21 – 24 and how things are progressing in regard to quality supervision, environmental conditions and capacity.
Our newly named Care Leavers into Employment, Education and Training focus group is also proving popular as is our final event in September, the Participation Practitioners’ Forum which will be co-hosted by our own Ruth Kerracher and Paul Gorman from the Scottish Government. They’ll be looking at reframing the participation discussion by looking at what adults need to change to facilitate meaningful involvement with young people.
Towards the end of August, myself and Chris (TCAC Workforce Lead for Staf) attended a Continuing Care Summit hosted by CELCIS and have committed to work with CELCIS, our members and partners in the Sector to challenge and collaborate on the recommendations made in the research report and will be following up with members, in due course, through our focus groups and forums.
Of course, with the end of summer comes the start of Conference season. We’ll be attending the Scottish Education Expo this month, the Social Work Scotland conference in October and we will shortly be announcing on sale information for our in-person National Conference on the 23rd November. In the meantime, if you are interested in sharing your work with a room full of passionate practitioners, we still have a few exhibition and sponsorship slots available. Be quick though, when they’re gone, they’re gone!
Our care leaver projects have also been planning some exciting events. Last week we were delighted to meet with the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon who heard from our care leaver guaranteed income advisory group on the impact that a Guaranteed Income could have on their and others lives. Commitments were made to ensure care leaver voice would be central to the Government’s Minimum Income Guarantee work and that she was open to further suggestions to create a level playing field for care experienced people in Scotland. We will keep you updated on any developments.
The Local House Project evaluation celebration event takes place this week and our Care Experienced Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub facilitated by the Catalysts of Project Return which takes place in Glasgow on the 29th September. Please share details of this with any care experienced people you work with.
Our Youth Justice Voices project are also busy planning ahead and are currently looking to invite new members to join Youth Just Us, the care and justice experienced steering group. If you know anyone with care and justice experience who you think would be interested in joining this innovative group of changemakers then please get in touch with ruth@staf.scot or you can share their FAQ flyer.
This month we were also thrilled to welcome Capital City Partnership as our latest member. You can read all about the great work they do to support care leavers in our Member of the Month section below. If you are interested in joining them as a member, please check out our page here.
Now for the not so good news. As we are all too aware, the cost-of-living crisis looks to become a cost of survival tragedy without immediate government intervention. Times will be tough for many but for those already on the breadline, including many care experienced people, it will become unbearable, particularly as they are not eligible for the energy rebate as they do not pay Council Tax. Our work on a Guaranteed Income for Care Leavers will continue but alongside this we will joining the many other organisations we work with to call on the Government to do more as well as supporting those we already work with to navigate the stormy seas ahead. We have collated some information about the financial supports available to care experienced people here and will keep this updated as things develop.
We will also be discussing the financial issues experienced by care leavers at the next Cross Party Group on Care Leavers which takes place online on Tuesday 20th September at 6pm. We hope to have as many people there as possible, both from the workforce but we are especially keen to welcome those with care experience so please do share this with anyone you think might be keen to attend. Email jack@staf.scot to register your interest and to be sent joining instructions.
The forecast may be looking unsettled, but we will continue to do all we can to support the workforce and care leavers in the months ahead.
Best wishes,
Jo Derrick, Staf CEO
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Youth Just Us - Care and Justice Experienced Steering Group
Youth Just Us are currently seeking new members. Info sessions are being planned so young people and workers can find out more about the project, as well as trying out some fun creative activities. Get in touch with ruth@staf.scot more info. Please share this flyer with anyone you think might be interested.
Youth Justice Voices is working collaboratively with Clan Childlaw and former CYCJ Director Claire Lightowler on an interesting project. Youth Just Us member and YJV consultant Ashley is working alongside Claire and Ruth, leading engagement activities with young people to help better understand children and young people’s legal needs, and understand what they would want and need from a child friendly legal service. We have completed workshops with Inside Out and are about to hold our final workshop with Youth Just Us
Participation – who’s the elephant in the room? “What if we reframed the conversation around children and young people’s participation to focus on what adults need to change? What would we talk about: power, money, time, vulnerability, complexity, competition? With an increasing focus on meaningful participation where are the adult elephants in the room that, when named, would enable us to progress the conversation?” These are just some of the big questions that the next Participation Practitioners’ Forum will tackle. Join us on September 29 (10am – 11.30am online) for space to raise and explore questions that are sometimes left off the main agenda. This session will be facilitated by Ruth Kerracher (Staf/CYCJ) and Paul Gorman, Empowered Young People Programme Lead, from the Scottish Government. Sign up here.
Inside Out - Care experienced steering group at HMPYOI Polmont
Members of Inside Out recently met with the Governor and Head of Offender Outcomes. This was an exciting opportunity for the boys to showcase their work and present ideas and recommendations on how things could be improved in Polmont. We were delighted that their ideas were accepted, and that they have a commitment from the Governor to hear directly from the group at least every three months. Watch this space for further info on what the new project ideas are.
The group have also launched the second edition of their newsletter for their peers in Polmont, and continue their work on rights for care experienced children and young people.
You can keep up to date with the work of Youth Just Us and Inside Out via our Twitter account @YJVScotland | | | | Care Leavers Forum
The Care Leavers' Forum attended the Scottish Fire and Rescue services' corporate parenting planning meeting where project lead, Katrina, updated them on the work of the project, and the wider Staf work, issues of stigma and advice on how to ensure that care experienced voice is listened to and acted upon and what all parents need to consider when thinking about those in their care.
The forum have also been working with our partners at Aberlour and Who Cares? Scotland on our Minimum Income Guarantee campaign and were delighted to share their views with the First Minister last week.
The forum have been setting the agenda for the Cross Party Group on Care Leavers which meets on the 20th September. Email jack@staf.scot to register your interest and to receive joining instructions.
Get in touch with katrina@staf.scot if you'd like to get involved and influence change for care leavers! | | | | The Real Toolkit
The Real Toolkit, a leaving care resource by Staf, is available here.
Check out this month's featured guides on Supporting Young People with Care Experienced in their Job.
Thanks to feedback from care leavers and the workforce, we will shortly be announcing some changes to our pages. If you have any feedback or suggestions for additional guides then we'd love to hear from you. Please email katrina@staf.scot.
You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our progress. | | | | National Leadership Network (NLN)
Gary Brown, NLN Development Co-ordinator, shares the latest update
Roadshows: The first two NLN roadshows took place in Aberdeen and East Ren this month. Staff are currently reviewing both these events before planning the next stage of the roadshow journey. Unfortunately, the Rossie roadshow was cancelled but will be re arranged in due course. NLN Virtual Quiz: An NLN Virtual Quiz will take place on Tuesday 27th of September at 6.30pm via zoom. This is an idea suggested by a young woman linking in with the Network. This will be open to anyone and should be fun and a bit informative! More info to follow soon. NLN Blogs/Vlogs on leadership: The NLN is keen to have a space for people to talk about ‘leadership’. This has also been encouraged by young people we know. Several friends of the NLN have said they will put forward a blog/vlog on ‘leadership’ when this is promoted. This will be an opportunity for anyone. Again, more info to follow soon. Young people’s Blogs/Vlogs: We are starting to gather blogs/vlogs from some of the young people we know. In time we will share them. These will focus on people talking about what they have done with the NLN and how this has felt. Interim Oversight Group (IOB): The 4 young people in the IOB have been working on lots over the last month. They led the interview process for the NLN Steering Group (more info on this in due course). They all took part in the Aberdeen and East Ren roadshows - setting up, leading sessions, engaging with services and much more. They have also been talking about various issues around our communication, sharing their thoughts on promo, engagement, next steps and more. Events: The NLN have attended the CELCIS Participation Network event on the 3rd of August - Participation Practice Exchange: Keep The Promise by bringing participation to life. NLN staff and a young person from the Interim Oversight Board presented to the 90 attendees approx. in attendance and facilitated table top discussions as well as taking part in a Q and A. Engagement with organisations: NLN staff continue to engage with organisations all over Scotland recently this has included talking with services local to Aberdeen after the recent roadshow. Following on from the CELCIS event staff also met with Promise Leads in education from East Dunbartonshire who are keen to make links with the NLN. Other engagement has also included meeting staff and young people linked to Articulate and staff who are part of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Programme. Life Changes Trust legacy: All the LCT legacy leads met this month to introduce themselves and give brief updates of where projects currently are. A 3-hour face to face meeting has been arranged on the 15th of September to discuss partnership working, sharing resources, etc. Email list: If any people with care experience would like to be kept up to date with opportunities, experiences and info from the NLN then please get in touch via ypceleadership@thenln.org
This is a snapshot of some of the work the NLN is doing just now. For more information, please contact gary@thenln.org | | | | | |
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