Dear Friend
I hope this month’s newsletter finds you refreshed after some summer fun, or with a reset break on the horizon. Here at Staf we’ve been taking the downtime to plan for the next few months ahead as well as welcoming some new members to the team.
As mentioned in the last edition, our annual National Conference is taking place on Wednesday 23rd November at the University of Stirling. Full booking details will be announced soon, including information about on our ever-popular early bird and group rates, but in the meantime we are opening up applications for our Sponsorship and Exhibition opportunities. You can find out more about what’s on offer here or you can email marion@staf.scot to register your interest.
Our care experienced led projects have also been using this month to plan and have some exciting opportunities coming up. Project Return are coming back together to host a Care Experienced Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub on Thu 29 Sep. More information about how to take part will be announced shortly. The Care Leavers Forum have been discussing the next Cross Party Group meeting and will also be involved in our Guaranteed Income pilot discussions which we are very excited to announce will be heard by the First Minister when she visits the steering group next month. The Real Toolkit Advisory Group are looking for organisations which provide services for young people to get in touch so we can showcase their work on the relevant pages. Email katrina@staf.scot if you want share your work. And finally, Youth Just Us have been busy welcoming Sarah Quinn as our new Youth Justice Support Worker who is tasked with creating Youth Justice Voices groups outwith the central belt.
This month we are also thrilled to welcome Dawn Robb as our new Learning, Evidence and Impact Lead who will be creating an online learning channel for the wealth of care experienced learnings gathered by the Life Changes Trust, alongside supporting our own learning and evaluation work.
A project we have been working on for a few years now is Shannon’s Box, a box of love for young people entering care, designed by Shannon Brown, who wanted to make the experience of going into care better than her own. The box contains items which are to provide comfort, safety and love as well as fostering positive relationships and can be adapted to suit different ages of children. We’d love to see this being rolled out to children/young people across Scotland. If you’d like to find out more then email info@staf.scot or check out the webpage.
With the current cost of living crisis we need to do all we can to ensure young people are equipped to make the most of the finances they do have. Which is why we are delighted to see MyBnk opening a Money House in Glasgow. You can read all about their service for 16 – 25 year olds in our Policy and Practice section of the newsletter.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Right There who have recently joined us as a member. You can find out more about the great work they do in our Member of the Month section below.
Thank you also to all our members, we would not be here without you, and you all play a vital role in supporting young people leaving care. If you are interested in joining us you can find out all there is to know about the benefits at www.staf.scot/membership.
Best wishes,
Jo Derrick
Staf CEO | 
