It's nearly that time again... |
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Dear Friend,
It’s nearly that time again – it’s seems to come around much quicker every year… election time of course! Ahead of the December poll, Staf has set out some simple steps the next UK Government should take to prevent and alleviate poverty amongst care leavers. You can read our anti-poverty plan here. We were also pleased to take part in the working group for the Youth Homelessness Prevention Pathway report, focusing on improving care leavers' housing pathways. It’s been a busy month at Staf besides, with two big events - and plenty more in the works. On Care Experienced Week, Celebrating Connection brought together young people and workers to relax and have fun – the feedback shows we were successful on both counts. And the We Care conference in Stirling gave us invaluable insight into workforce wellbeing through a trauma lens. Thank you again to our sponsors for this event who made the day possible – Aberlour, Kibble, the Life Changes Trust, LinkLiving and Seamab. Our Youth Justice Voices project is also embarking on an exciting project to explore creative identity. If you have young people that would like to get involved then get in touch with Ruth. Finally, we said a fond farewell this month to Kenneth Graham our Administrative Assistant, who has worked diligently behind the scenes supporting our work. In particular, we were so proud to see him present at the Glasgow Care Leavers Event this month. We all wish him the very best as he embarks on his chosen career!
Until next time,
Jo
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| | | Reflecting on the We Care Conference
On Tuesday 29th October, Staf held a day-long trauma conference (We Care: Workforce wellbeing and trauma-sensitive care) with Dr Roland Verdouw and Tony Bloemendaal, both of Dr Bruce Perry's ChildTrauma Academy. In this blog our Head of Learning and Development, Pamela Graham, takes a look back at the key learning points from an informative and energising day: read our reflections on the conference here.
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| | Youth Justice Voices announces new creative collaboration
Youth Justice Voices is delighted to announce an exciting new collaboration with Articulate Cultural Trust and Scottish artist Scott Lang (Slang). The 'Artivism' project will comprise eight creative workshops exploring identity through various art forms: using spray paint, stencil, photo montages and more to express what being care and justice experienced means to group members. Find out more about how to get involved here.
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| | Celebrating Connection on Care Experienced Week
During Care Experienced Week 2019, we hosted a special Practitioners' Gathering event - bringing together young people and the workers that support them for a day of reflection and relaxation.We also took part in the Who Cares? Scotland Love Rally, and Kenneth presented a film about his motivations and successes at The Glasgow City Council Care Leavers Open Day. Read all about Staf's activity during the week here. |
| | Join the Staf board
Our current Board of Directors has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the sector, and bring passion and commitment to supporting Staf in making our vision a reality. As part of succession planning, with pending end of tenure for some Board Members, our Leadership team are now looking to bring additional skillset and experience to the Board. Find out more about becoming a Staf board member here.
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| | Building Relationships
Our 'Mapping Relationships' project has now progressed into its second phase. Thank you to all who have participated so far, and we look forward to engaging with you on the next phase of the project: 'Building Relationships'.
We are now looking to recruit care-experienced young people and workers to the Building Relationships steering group. If you are interested in getting involved and helping to drive improvements in relationship-based practice across Scotland, get in contact with Papoula on papoula@staf.scot
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| | We Care Conference Interviews At the We Care Conference we interviewed representatives from our headline sponsors, to find out more about the work they are doing in their organisations to support a trauma-informed and trauma-responsive culture. Click below to view our first video from the event with John Ryan, Assistant Director at Aberlour. |
| | | | Tackling care leaver poverty: Staf's asks for the General Election
With the General Election polling set to take place on 12th December, we have outlined our asks around tackling care leaver poverty. We call for the UK Government to take immediate steps to alleviate care leaver poverty through raising the income of care leavers and reforming social security. Find out more about our general election asks here. |
| | | Staf welcomes new report on improving housing pathways for care leavers
Staf has welcomed a new report on preventing youth homelessness and improving care leavers housing pathways. The report was created by a working group which included Staf and was co-ordinated by the A Way Home Scotland coalition.
This follows a commitment made by the First Minister in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government to develop a care leaver’s homelessness prevention pathway. Find out more here. |
| | Have your say on the benefits system
The Scottish Government is carrying out research to gather views and experiences of the benefits system. Everyone who completes the 15-minute survey will be entered into a prize draw to win one of two £50 high street shopping vouchers, with the survey open until Friday 29th November. View survey here |
| | Scottish Government announces Attainment Funding for 2019/20
The Scottish Government has announced £12 million of further funding for the 19/20 academic year in a bid to raise attainment for care experienced children and young people. Local authorities will work with Chief Social Workers and Directors of Education to decide how this year’s funding will be used. Find out more here.
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| | Register to vote by 21 November
The deadline for registering to vote in the General Election is the 26th November if you live in Scotland, England or Wales. Make sure you, and the young people you support, are signed up to the electoral register to have your voice heard on polling day! Register to vote here. |
| | | Project Return Steering Group Session
Project Return is focused on changing how the care system understands and supports trauma. This is being done through our steering group which is made of both care experienced voices as well as workers. The care and/or justice-experienced members will drive this project by sharing their insight, knowledge and experience.
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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.
At our next meeting there will be the usual opportunities to meet colleagues and share practice that supports service delivery. We will be focusing on Commissioning services, Scotland Excel and transitions out of Continuing Care and how they are managed. Book your place here.
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| | | | Our Care Leavers into Employment focus group tackles the issues faced by young people in both accessing and sustaining employment. This group brings together workers from across the public and third sector to discuss and dissect current practice issues.
Our most recent focus group meetings have discussed the DWP's commitments to care leavers and the development of protocols with local authorities, and the development of national policy to support care leavers into employment. Book your place here.
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| | | Save the date - Local Authority Members' Forum
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 next meeting will take place on the 1st April 2020, and we will feed back on the issues raised at the last Forum, including Continuing Care, the Care Experienced Bursary and out-of-local authority placements, as well as any other issues that are current for you. We also want to hear from you, our members, in shaping the day’s content. Get in touch with pamela@staf.scot if you have something you wish to add to the agenda. Save the date.
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| | Save the date - we're bringing Dr Bruce Perry to Scotland!
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| | In partnership with other organisations, we are hosting an International Child Trauma Conference - More than My Trauma - in 2020, featuring world-renowned trauma expert Dr Bruce Perry. Our partners for the event are Kibble, Children in Scotland, Clackmannanshire Educational Psychology Service, Aberlour and Seamab.
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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: David Grimm is a steering group member of Project Return, a graphic facilitator, consultant, and a social work student. He is also a member of the Love Working Group and a 'Creative in Residence' for the Independent Care Review. In this blog, David reflects on his visit to Jersey as part of the Scotland-Jersey Participation project, and features a video from Staf Board member Simone Smith. Read here. |
| Listen: Kendall Alaimo, host of the Sentenced to Life podcast, interviews Dr Bruce Perry, the author of 'The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog'. Kendall and Dr. Perry discuss what happens to dehumanized children, how human connection heals, how the use of technology is aiding in coordination of different agencies serving abused children at the Child Trauma Academy. Listen here. |
| Watch: Dan Siegel discusses 'The Adolescent Brain', dispelling common myths and perceptions, and discussing the importance of compassionate and caring connections. This short video provides an overview of some of the neuroscience behind the brain in adolescence, complete with graphic illustration. Watch here. |
| | | © 2019 Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum, All Rights Reserved.
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