Staf leads call for care experienced bursary extension, project updates, and reflecting on #WeLove |
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Dear Friend,
It’s shaping up to be a rather unusual summer isn’t it? Many of us would normally be jetting off to the sun but that’s not going to be as likely this year. At our 'We Care' conference last year we explored how we can support workforce wellbeing and it’s an issue Staf feels strongly about. So while this might be an unusual summer break, make sure you remember to take a bit of time for self-care! To support both workers and young people to use nature to support their wellbeing, Staf’s Project Return group has developed Seeds for Change. They’ve also been asking people to share their thoughts on pets in care – as a dog owner I know how much we all benefit from having pets around! The young people behind Youth Justice Voices have also launched a fantastic newsletter for care and justice experienced young people and are asking them to share their experiences of lockdown. For many care leavers it’s not going to be an easy summer, with financial and employment concerns on the rise. No care leaver should be living in poverty. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Who Cares? Scotland, CELCIS and The Hub for Success to write to the Scottish Government to call for the Care Experienced Students Bursary to be increased so it can be extended throughout the year.
We know that at the heart of any effort to build back better from this crisis, relationships must be at the heart of everything we do. I’m pleased to say the Building Relationships Advisory Group is continuing to work hard to develop a resource for you to do just that.
Until next time, stay safe.
Jo
P.S. We'll shortly be launching an exciting new programme of online learning events - watch this space! |
| | | Staf leads call for care experienced bursary extension
Staf has partnered with Who Cares? Scotland, CELCIS, and Hub for SUCCESS to write to the Scottish Government to call for a year-round, increased Care Experienced Bursary payment.
While we welcome the package of support for students made available this summer by The Scottish Government, we believe that a longer term solution is required to provide financial stability to over 2,500 care-experienced students.
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| | Project Return: Seeds for Change forestry club and 'Pets in Care' survey
This month saw the first in a series of 'Seeds for Change' forestry club sessions take place - Project Return were delighted to welcome Lou Irvine of the Wellbeing Rebels to deliver a workshop on Woodland Wellbeing.
Project Return's care-experienced steering group 'The Catalysts' has also released a 'Pets in Care' survey to conduct research into the care community's experiences of having pets in their homes.
It's been a busy month for the project. Staf Project Return Development Worker, Jenny Ferguson, and Staf Youth Worker, Cheryle McInroy, also had an article published in the 'Social work 2020 under COVID-19' magazine on how Project Return is creatively engaging and supporting young people during the pandemic. You can read this here.
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| | Youth Justice Voices
The Youth Justice Voices project now has a twitter account! Make sure you follow to keep up-to-date with project developments @YJVScotland
We are looking for new members of the Youth Justice Voices projects' care and justice-experienced steering group, 'Youth Just Us!'. By getting involved you will: chance to connect with and meet other young people, have opportunities to talk about your experienced and issue to important to you to influence change - as well as taking part in fun and worthwhile activities such as quizzes and workshops!
This month, the young people of Youth Just Us joined forces with No Knives Better Lives and Pocket Sized Hands to help them design a new virtual reality game to prevent knife crime.
Here are just some of the reasons to get involved!
- Meet other care and justice-experienced young people
- Have an opportunity to share your experiences and issues important to you
- Create change and influence the future of Youth Justice in Scotland
- Have fun! Take part in group quizzes and workshops
If you are a young person aged 16-25 with care and justice experience interested in getting involved, or a worker supporting someone who is, our Youth Justice Participation Worker, Ruth Kerracher, and Participation Consultant, Kevin Lafferty would be happy to arrange a 1-1 chat with you via Zoom to talk more about the project. Get in contact on ruth@staf.scot
Ruth and Kevin have continued to ensure young people can take part in the wider work of Youth Justice Voices - holding regular zoom calls with our partner Barnardo’s Outside In Project in HMP&YOI Polmont and calls with any members we have in the adult estate.
We continue to benefit from the expertise and experience of Kevin Lafferty, our Youth Justice Voices participation consultant. If you haven't yet had a chance to read his blog reflecting on the work of the project over the last few months, it is well worth a read here.
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| | Building Relationships
The Building Relationships Advisory Group is creating a comprehensive tool that will support organisations to prioritise relationship-based practice. In order to achieve this, the group is collecting practice examples and experiences from across the country and across different settings.
Today, the Building Relationships advisory group is hosting its seventh meeting of the year. In this blog, you can read all about the progress of the group to-date and how you can get in involved in future meetings.
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| | | | #WeLove - sharing best practice from our members
Last month Staf ran a #WeLove Twitter campaign to highlight and document the good practice of our members and partners across Scotland - promoting the fantastic work happening every day to support children and young people in and leaving care.
We've written a short summary of just some of the issues highlighted - and the creative responses the workforce are taking across Scotland to support young people during this challenging time.
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| | Care-experienced young people and benefits: giving good advice
Together with The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) Scotland, Staf has updated our joint briefing on giving good advice to care experienced young people navigating the social security system.
You can find the latest version of the briefing here.
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| Staf welcomes progress on Care Review next steps
The Deputy First Minister has announced that recruitment to The Promise Oversight Board will begin over the next week, with 50 per cent of its members to be care-experienced. A £4 million 'Promise Fund' has also beeen announced to support the development of early intervention and family support approaches. |
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| The Local Authority Members' Forum 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.
The next meeting of this forum will take place via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 4th August.
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| | | | 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.
The key messages from the last meeting included:
- While practice varies, some local authorities have been working to visit carers and young people with social distancing as permitted
- A postcode lottery for young people still remains, with different interpretations of Continuing Care legislation. Streamlining and consistency required.
- There is a need to provide support for young people post-21 that want to remain in the same environment whilst avoiding it becoming too much of a business transaction (which can occur through e.g. formal rental agreements)
The next meeting of the Implications of Continuing Care focus group, and the fourth meeting of the group in 2020, will take place on Tuesday 18th August online via Microsoft Teams. At this meeting there will be the usual opportunities to meet colleagues and share practice that supports service delivery.
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| | | As a result of restrictions on physical meetings and gatherings, those delivering participation work across the country have had to rapidly and creatively adapt their approach.
We are running a free practitioners’ forum 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.
Contact Staf Youth Justice Participation Worker Ruth Kerracher on ruth@staf.scot to book your place on ruth@staf.scot
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| | | | | 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.
The key messages from the last meeting included:
- Variety of practice in approving supported carers: with some authorities doing so via the fostering and adoption panel, and other authorities using separate panels.
- Workers are facing challenges with IT restrictions on using certain platforms e.g. WhatsApp for contacting carers/young people.
- Enhanced payments are being offered on a case-by-case basis in some local authorities.
This group is aimed at members and corporate parents who provide supported lodgings or supported carer services for care-experienced young people. Our fifth meeting of 2020 will take place virtually via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 25th August.
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| | | | The Staf Care Leavers into Employment focus group tackles the issues faced by young people in both accessing and sustaining employment. Recent focus groups meetings have discussed the DWP's commitments to care leavers and protocols with local authorities, and the development of national policy to support care leavers into employment.
The key messages from the last meeting included: - Concerns about mental health of care leavers and lack of available support.
- As digital divide appears to be greater amongst care leavers, there is a need to bridge this but also for employers to put in place alternative processes e.g. phone interviews rather than video-calls.
- Concerns about young people in temporary accommodation and the cost of rent when they enter work, creating a financial disincentive to work.
At every meeting there is an opportunity for attendees to network with peers and discuss best practice. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday 2nd September via Microsoft Teams.
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| | | If you only have time to read, listen or watch one thing this week, make sure it's one of the below. |
| Read: Staf's 'Youth Justice Voices' partners, The Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice (CYCJ) have recently published this study into the impact of childhood trauma on those young people looked after across Scotland's secure estate. Read here. |
| Listen: 'FeelsFM' is an 'emoji' jukebox powered by 'See Me' - Scotland's programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination. Simply enter an emoji which reflects how you are feeling and a playlist will be generated to go with your mood! Listen here. |
| Watch: In this brief 20 minute video, Dr. Bruce Perry discusses 'emotional contagion' and talks about the power of calm. The concept of power differential is looked at in the context of human interactions and there is a discussion on the importance of calm, regulated leadership in times of stress and distress. Watch here. |
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