Dear Friend,

Welcome to the first Staf newsletter of 2022. I don’t know about you but it’s been a month that has whizzed by. It’s also been a time for us to plan the year ahead which we look forward to sharing with you.

Whilst we reflect on what’s coming up, we’d also like to find out what our members have made of the last year. If you belong to a member organisation, we would really appreciate 10 minutes of your time to complete our annual survey. There’s a chance to win a £50 voucher of your choice if you do, plus your feedback will really help to inform how we can make the membership the best it can be. If you’re not a member you can find out more about the many benefits of joining here.

We are all beginning to experience the #costoflivingcrisis with inflation rising at exponential rates and energy prices booming. However, we know that for those leaving care, many will feel this even more acutely. The sheer volume of applicants for our Young Funder’s Grant, and the basic necessities being asked for, was testament to the financial need currently being experienced by young people with care experience. We will be contacting the successful applicants for the grant by the end of February, but the money can only go so far which is why we’ve signposted alternative funding options for those in need here.

Our work to champion and improve the outcomes of care leavers can be heard at our Staf Summit in March, where we will be looking at how we can secure the financial wellbeing of care leavers. With a keynote address from the Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey, and contributions from the leaders of Wellbeing Economy Scotland, RSA Scotland and Aberlour, along with care leavers themselves it will be a very timely and important discussion. Sign up today to find out what we can all do to ensure care leavers are not transitioning from care to poverty.

This month we are establishing a working group to support our systemic review of our approach to being trauma informed and we are hoping to have 2 member representatives to join us in this. It will be short-life working group running from February through to June. If you would like to know more about potentially being involved, please do get in touch (jo@staf.scot) and we can talk through some more.

Finally, next month we will be marking #CareDay22 (18 Feb) by celebrating our three care-experienced led projects; Project Return, The Real Toolkit and Youth Justice Voices, the funding for which come to an end this month and sharing our plans for the next part in the lives of these important initiatives. We also have some exciting recruitment opportunities to reveal so make sure you follow us on Twitter to be the first to find out!

Until then, we hope you keep well and look forward to a year of putting care leavers and the workforce who support them, front and centre of everything we do.

Best wishes,

Jo Derrick

Staf CEO 

Since we began in 2019, Youth Justice Voices has been funded by Life Changes Trust, to help us amplify the voices of young people in the care and justice systems, and support workforce development. As this funding comes to an end, we would like to reflect on the many wonderful opportunities it has given us.

Life Changes Trust have consistently championed us in developing creative approaches to supporting care and justice experienced young people to lead the way in sharing experiences and influencing real change - whilst placing relationships at the heart of everything we do.

The funding has enabled us to work in creative and flexible ways throughout the pandemic, helping us to meet the needs and aspirations of our young people despite the challenges presented by restrictions. This has included funding activities, care packages, data and devices to make sure we stay connected and beat boredom and isolation. It has also allowed us to ensure our activities are meaningful, impactful but also fun, which has been extremely important during these difficult times.

We would like to thank Life Changes Trust for their funding, support and kindness during the last three years. Without this, Youth Justice Voices would not be what it is today.

We have some exciting news to announce in the next newsletter about what is next for Youth Justice Voices so watch this space.

Both Youth Just Us and Inside Out are still going strong and we intend to reach more children and young people in 2022 and beyond.

Inside Out in Polmont are about to publish their first newsletter for their peers in Polmont as well as sharing their views in the Scottish Government’s consultation on the use of bail, remand and release in Scotland. Youth Just Us are currently working on a brand new video and a series of blogs where we will share some of our achievements and learning from the last 3 years. We are also looking forward to a celebratory meal now the restrictions are easing.

Youth Just Us recently met with Dr Claire Lightowler the former Director of CYCJ to ensure that care and justice experienced young people have informed the annual Kilbrandon Lecture. We look forward to the lecture where attendess will also hear our response on Claire’s lecture and call for action.

Finally, we are delighted to share CYCJ's new website Just the Right Space, an accessible site for everyone to bettwe understand the justice system which Youth Just Us helped co-produce.

Project Return are currently sorting through the Young Funders Applications, lots of which have been received! These were grants, designed and distributed by young people, to be given to care-experienced young people to allow them to pursue new passions and hobbies. All applicants will be contacted at the end of February to let them know if their application has 

You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our progress. 

Scottish Care Leavers Forum Steering Group 

The Care Leavers Forum are raring to go and are moving to weekly meetings as there's so much to discuss!

If you know of any young people with care experience who would like to be involved please email katrina@staf.scot 

Prevention of Homelessness Duties: Deadline 7 Feb 2022 

Bail and Release From Custody Arrangements: Deadline 7 Feb 2022 

Consultation Response 
Registers of child welfare reporters, curators ad litem and solicitors appointed when an individual is prohibited from conducting their own case: consultation analysis: Published 13 Jan 2022 

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. 

Following our last Supported Lodgings/Supported Carers 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.