Care experienced young mother succeeding in work placement
Young mother Caprice, has been part of the Gen@Work project, delivered by Leicestershire Cares and Access Generation. The project takes care experienced young people through a 6-week virtual programme that gives young people a real world work experience in market research. The project also helps participants build their confidence, skill and employability to compete in the job market.
Other care experienced young people have also been doing well on the project.
“I joined the Gen@Work programme so I can improve some of my weaknesses and learn new skills.” Martin
“What Access Generation does is great. I think employers will really value this training experience.” Sal.
Care experienced Mentoring Programme to be launched in April
Leicestershire Cares’ Esmee Fairbairn funded Voices project has been working with care experienced young people and the organisation’s business members and partners, to design a new mentoring programme for young people leaving care.
The steering group made up from Thermo Fisher, Leicester City Council, Leicester City Football Club’s Leicester in the Community, Everards, Samworth Brothers and care experienced young people have been working together to create a mentoring programme that aims to improve the lives of care experienced young people by supporting them to find solutions to the barriers that are impacting on their life chances.
The mentors will act as a ‘critical friend’ who is able to guide and support young people through one to one sessions, to enable them to take responsibility for areas of professional and personal growth. The mentor will be there to create a supportive, challenging and reflective learning environment.
Care Leavers want to support looked after children who are being bullied at school
Our VRN project, Free From Violence, met before Christmas at a community allotment to work out which issue they would investigate around care experienced young people’s exposure to violence.
In a safe space, the group shared experiences and spoke candidly. Out of these discussions the reoccurring theme that came up was times they were bullied at schools, for being a child in the care system.
This group has decided to work co-productivity to produce a resource that looked after children and schools can use to support them and offer advice on how to deal with issues around bullying due to being in care.
Taking Hold of Our Heritage book coming out soon
Over the last year Leicestershire Cares has been working with care experienced young people to help them wrestle back the power of narrative in their lives, so they can tell the stories they want heard about them.
In this book you will read and witness care experienced young people’s investigations into the complex nature of their identity and see artefacts created by the young people out of these exploration, including oral histories, art and photovoice.
The book will be launched in January 2021.
The Taking Hold of Our Heritage project, funded by the Y Heritage, aimed to encourage care experienced young people to reflect on positive memories to change the narrative they tell about their lives, and recreate their own heritage artefacts.
Leicestershire Cares welcomes Care Review in England
On Friday 15 January, the Education Secretary launched the long-awaited review of children's social care in England. The Conservatives pledged to conduct a review of the care system in their election manifesto in 2019, following the publication of the findings of the Scottish Care Review earlier that year. The review itself will go above and beyond this pledge, not only looking at the experiences of children in care, but all children who are referred to or involved with statutory children’s social care.
We are pleased to see a broad and ambitious scope for the review, which sets out to reshape how children and young people enter, are supported by and leave the social care system. It will include those in formal care settings, as well as informal care arrangements such as kinship care. Read our full statement: Leicestershire Cares welcomes Care Review in England
Get involved
- Find out about the work we do with care experienced young people: mental wellbeing, employment and training, campaigning for Care Leavers rights, building social connection.
- Sign our Promise to Care
- Hear the voices of care experienced young people in our Podcasts
- Taking Hold of Our Heritage
- For more information about our Voices project contact jacob@leicestershirecares.co.uk