23 – 31 October is Care Experienced Week and Children’s Health Scotland is proud to join with others in Celebrating Success and Connection – the theme of the week.
Organised by Who Cares? Scotland, this week is an event which aims to celebrate the Care Experienced Community. The theme this year is Celebrating Success and Connection, which highlights the barriers faced by Care Experienced people and the effort used to overcome them.
Sarah Nelson, Assistant for our Care Experienced Children and Young People Service, has said: “To celebrate the theme of Connection, Children’s Health Scotland would like to thank all of the Kinship and Foster carers who have taken the time to support the work of the charity or attended our workshops to learn about a range of topics associated with care experienced children and young people. Most importantly, during these workshops they have the opportunity to meet and connect with other carers who are experiencing similar issues in relation to Foster and Kinship Care.
“Often, we discover that the best support and advice comes from other carers, who are often experts through experience. Through the discussions we have with them, they can often provide excellent tips, advice and support in how to deal with challenging situations that they are facing. We also attend Kinship Care support groups and offer mini training sessions on topics that are requested – we are so impressed with the connections that these groups form and the peer support that they give one another.”
Although care experienced children and young people face many challenges and obstacles throughout their lives, and it is important to recognise this, sometimes the general narrative and media reporting on care experienced children and young people is overly focused on these challenges.
Children’s Health Scotland has loved reading through all the success stories shared by people of all ages using the hashtag #CEWins21 and we encourage you to have a look – or if you are care experienced: get involved and share a story! Celebrating success and achievements, however great or small, helps to encourage others to dream big and combat social stigma that exists in society. Care experienced people can achieve great things and Care Experienced Week is a great time to show some of these successes off.
We applaud Who Cares? Scotland for their work on influencing the incorporation of UNICRC into Scots Law and in their work to help children and young people meet their right to have their voices heard and have what they say be respected (UNCRC Article 12). This campaign helps to uplift the voices of care experienced children and young people.
At Children’s Health Scotland, we believe all children and young people across Scotland have the right to the best possible health. If you would like to learn more about the workshops we offer, please email enquiries@childrenshealthscotland.org, or visit the Care Experienced section of our website.
