Latest news, events and policy updates from Staf |
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Dear Friend,
Just like that, another month has passed, and what an incredibly busy month it has been. Naturally all eyes have been on the Scottish Parliament election, results and the appointment of the Cabinet. We now know who we will be calling on to support our pledge to ensure the outcomes of care leavers are equal to that of their peers and we look forward to keeping you updated and involved as we do so. Alongside our partners at Aberlour and RSA Scotland we will continue to press for a Universal Basic Income pilot scheme for care leavers which we were heartened to read has been promoted by the Welsh government and has been highlighted in the SNP's Route Map to a Fair and Independent Scotland. Read our response here.This month also saw two significant dates for the diary; Foster Care Fortnight and Mental Health Awareness Week. We were delighted to support these key campaigns with our Twitter series highlighting #WhyWeCare about the many members who are associated with foster care. For mental health awareness week our project strands work shone as we were able to share via Instagram the creative leadership of Youth Justice Member Ashley as she led a session on tie dye whilst discussing mental health. We also heard from Project Return’s Development Worker Tommy who reflected on the great work The Catalysyts do to promote well-being. One key element being Togetheroo which we held this week. Thank you to those who took part. It was a huge success and we look forward to developing this further for Togetheroo 2022! Over at The Real Toolkit things we will soon be launching the many guides which are at the heart of this great co-produced resource for care leavers and the workforce. In her first blog, our new Project Worker Katrina has shared the latest updates on The Real Toolkit as well as the exciting work she is about to embark on creating a care experienced community steering group. Find out more and how you can take part in either of these two brilliant projects here. Once again, we are delighted to be partnering with Children in Scotland and other great organisations as part of the More Than My Trauma series. This year there will be a monthly webinar, starting tomorrow. Our own webinar features in August and, in October, will be culminating with a webinar from the much respected trauma expert Dr Bruce Perry. There’s still time to book your place. As always we are here to support you as you continue to deliver services for young people and we have plenty of events this coming month which you can book onto below. We are particularly looking forward to our Local Authority Member's Forum where we will focus on Aftercare and be joined by David Hannigan from the Scottish Government who is coming along to share what the Government are doing in relation to Aftercare and data collection. Finally you will see a new segment in this month’s newsletter featuring current vacancies. We are currently recruiting for a psychologist and two board members. We’d love to hear from you!
Best wishes,
Pamela Graham Interim Staf CEO
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Staf Projects
Youth Justice Voices
It's been another busy month for Youth Justice Voices.
Our Youth Justice Participation Lead has been working with colleagues to put together the event a Socially Just Approach to Justice, which will run on Thursday 3rd June. Members of Youth Just Us were involved in the pilot to shape these workshops.
Our next Participation Practitioners Forum will take place on July 29th 10-11:30am, see details below.
Youth Just Us have been getting creative this month - Ashley, one of our members, has led Tie-Dye sessions explaining the process and history of tie-dye. We've been focussing on our mental health and wellbeing, and how creative outlets can help us to achieve that.
Our members Dale, Marie and Jason are working hard on the Whole Systems Approach Project. They are currently developing workshops which they will facilitate with young people in order to co-produce and shape the guidance. If you think you can support and have a group of young people who could participate get in touch with ruth@staf.scot for more info. Workshops last approx. 90 minutes and can be incentivised with a gift voucher. See our colleague at CYCJ, Ross Gibson’s blog for more info http://www.cycj.org.uk/co-producing-a-rights-respecting-resource/.
Finally, our latest Newsletter can be viewed here!
Project Return
We've welcomed our new project worker, Tommy, to Project Return, and have hit the ground running.
We planned our first Togetheroo event, which we hoped would bring organisations together to talk about one of four themes we thought were important: relationships, culture, safe spaces and well-being.
We've been discussing these topics amongst ourselves and are excited to see what will become of the event. You can follow our progress on Twitter, @Project_Return_
The REAL Toolkit
The REAL Toolkit has just launched their new Instagram account. You can follow our progress on Twitter and Instagram @StafRealToolkit. |
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Staf Policy and Practice
Universal Basic Income rises up the political agenda
We were buoyed to read that the Welsh Government are considering a Universal Basic Income pilot with care leavers and in the SNP's recent report; A route map to a fair and independent Scotland, UBI is also flagged as a credible solution to poverty. UBI is something we and our partners at Aberlour and RSA Scotland have been working on as we strongly believe it could make a significant difference to the life of young people leaving care who don't have the 'bank of mum and dad' to fall back on.
More Than My Trauma Webinar Starts Tomorrow! We are delighted to be working again with our partners at More Than My Trauma on a series of webinars. The first is tomorrow hosted by Clackmannanshire Council with our session on how our trauma journey has influenced participation, policy and partnership being held in August and the series culminates in October with a segment featuring trauma expert Dr Bruce Perry. |
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2021 UN Day of General Discussion on Children's Rights and Alternative Care
The biennial UN Day of Discussion takes place on the 16 & 17 September 2021. This year they are focusing on Rights of Children in Alternative Care, clearly something we all can contribute towards.
Under 18s can share their views by completing a survey conducted by the UN.
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The Promise Change Programme: Submit Your Questions
Currently and over the coming weeks, The Promise Scotland is meeting with & listening to many of those organisations, including national partners and all local authorities, to discuss what they are doing now and what they are planning to do over the coming year to #KeepThePromise. All who are committed to #KeepThePromise can feed in what they are doing now and planning to do by submitting their answers to questions posed by The Promise. These will then be analysed in advance of the Change Programme being published at the end of June.
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Consultations of Interest The following government consultations are open and are likely to be of interest:
Regulation of Child Contact Centres closes 12 Jul 2021
The Government seeking views from a range of individuals including children and young people which will inform the development of the regulation of child contact centres.
Register of Child Welfare Reporters closes 12 Jul 2021 The Government are consulting to gain views from a range of stakeholders including children and young people and people who have direct experience of family court proceedings.
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Staf Events Staf runs a range of events including focus groups, webinars and conferences for you to learn from and give you an opportunity to connect with your peers and young care leavers.
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Participation Practitioner's Forum
Thursday 27th May, 10am - 11.30am (Zoom)
The Participation Practitioners' Forum is a free monthly 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.
The forum has a particular focus on engaging workers that support care-experienced young people in the justice system, and on utilising digital tools to creatively support young people.
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Brew and a Blether: Carers Tuesday 6th June, 11.30am - 12.30pm (Zoom)
Join us as we get together for a virtual cuppa to share experiences of being a carer for young people in transition. This meeting will give you an opportunity to meet up with other carers and hear how things are going for them, talk about the issues that you are facing as well as being a supportive force for carers like you..
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Local Authority Members Forum
Tuesday 9th June, 10.30am - 12.30pm (Microsoft Teams)
This event has been created exclusively for local authority managers to give you space to discuss the issues that matter to you, given your unique statutory responsibility in delivering service for care leavers.
Our Local Authority Forums this year will all have a focus on Aftercare. The first in the series will include updates from our colleagues in the Scottish Government. We will hear from David Hannigan Team Leader, Care Leaver Support at The Scottish Government on his worth with Aftercare data collection. There will also be policy updates with a focus on SAAS and The Promise.
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Implications of Continuing Care Focus Group
Tuesday 22nd June, 10am - 11.30am (Microsoft 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.
At this next Implications of Continuing Care session we will be focusing on wellbeing assessments for young people alongside practice sharing and peer support.
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Supported Carers/Supported Lodgings Focus Group
Tuesday 29th June, 10am - 11.30am (Microsoft 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.
Following meeting where we discussed having a more standardised approach to SC/SL at this session we will be focusing on issues surrounding supervision alongside practice sharing and discussing further the idea of a Supported Carers Week to help amplify the key role they play in the life of care leavers.
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What #WeLove this month...
💜 Progress in the fight against Covid-19 is being made as young people aged 18 - 29 are now being asked to register for their vaccine.
💜 Huge congratulations to Staf Board member Simone Smith who has achieved her Social Work degree at the University of Strathclyde. Such an inspiration for young people with care experience everywhere. The sector is very lucky to have you!
💜The Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot and Youth Link Scotland are looking for young people's views on life during lockdown. Please share the survey link with any young people you work with, deadline for completion is 31st May. |
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Staf Vacancies
Psychologist
Staf is in need of an experienced psychologist to support us and our members to keep ‘The Promise’ in Scotland and to further develop Staf’s trauma-informed and relationship-based practice developments in the sector. We are looking for someone who has worked dynamically across systems to support us to undertake a systemic/reflective review of our own approach to being trauma-informed and work alongside us to map out the next phases in our trauma journey.
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Board Member - Children's Rights
To support our Board and CEO we are seeking to appoint a Board Director with specific knowledge and experience in Child’s Rights to support Staf to integrate both the UNCRC and broader human rights into our work and to further help our members to do the same.
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Board Member - 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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| 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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