How lived experience of care is helping drive Scotland’s progress towards keeping The Promise

David Anderson is the Co-Chair of the Oversight Board, an independent group set up to report on the progress and pace in Scotland as it journeys towards keeping The Promise it made to the care community following the findings of Scotland’s Independent Care Review in 2020. In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, David discusses the Board’s role and remit, the importance of lived experience, and invites applications from potential new members.

A Face on a Wall: How embracing ‘Artivism’ can help young people find their voice

In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, Michael Archibald, a student, artist and activist, discusses being involved in – and being the face of – one of five new murals across Scotland that celebrate, raise awareness, and share the voices of care experienced youth.

Exploring leadership opportunities for the care experienced community

For this Care Experienced Week we took some time with Barry Black, member of the National Leadership Network (NLN) steering group, and Gary Brown, NLN Development Co-ordinator to find out more about the NLN and how participation at the core of how the Network works in Scotland, and with Sarah Rogers, Participation Associate at CELCIS, who tells us more about a partnership project between the NLN and CELCIS.

“Despite the cold weather, the Scottish people have given me one of the warmest welcomes in my life”: how supportive relationships help young refugees rebuild their lives in new places

During this Refugee Week and Refugee Festival Scotland 2023, Mohamad, a young person who arrived in Scotland from Syria in 2016 as a child reflects on why supportive relationships are essential to feeling safe and settled in a new place, and the ways in which refugees make a positive impact in their new countries.

Language matters

Amy Miskimmin-Logan, Participation Development Worker at Our Hearings Our Voice (OHOV) shares the thinking behind the ‘Language Leaders’ project which aims to change the language young people experience as they go through the Children’s Hearings System.

How Our Hearings Our Voice members worked around COVID-19 restrictions to help children and young people

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this could have derailed plans children and young people from Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) had been working on to provide information on Compulsory Supervision Orders. Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration’s (SCRA) Participation Officer Jennifer Orren, explains how the OHOV board members worked together and kept going to co-design a film to help children and young people.

The future of social work in times of change

Kathryn Lindsay is the Director of Children, Families and Justice Services and Chief Social Work Officer at Angus Council. In this blog post, she discusses how social workers can use their voices and experience to drive and adapt to change and support each other.

Our Hearings, Our Voice, Our Magazine

How young people came up with the idea to produce a magazine for all young people to read and help them understand what’s involved while waiting to go into their Children’s Hearing - a legal meeting set up because there are concerns about a child’s, young person’s or young adult’s wellbeing, or the care they are receiving.

A legacy: how personal stories are shaped

How legacy work helps children to document their lives: supporting a young person or child who has had to start again in creating their own legacy. Having memories to look back on and ways to conceive of time passing I think.

Childhood Trauma and the Poignance of Spirit

In National Storytelling Week 2023, Annmarie Campbell, member of CELCIS's Strategic Advisory Board, explains what inspired her to turn to writing as she shares a piece written under her author penname for the Scottish Book Trust's Scotland's Stories project.