Care Leavers' Association

SHOUT OUT for creative writing entries!!

Issue 2: Leaving Care- We've Been There (Feb 2012)

Are you aged 16-25? Do you want to be part of the publication team for the CLA's young person led guide to leaving care?

Share your experiences, tops tips, stories and other creative writing style entries on the following:

• "Accommodation", tell us your experiences, good and bad!
• "Getting on in life" Share your success stories, whether it be education, employment, becoming successfully independent or any other achievement you would like to share
• "Getting in trouble with the law", tell us your experiences and what you did to resolve things

Any entry can be either anonymous or you can be credited in full. For more information please contact Clare on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Deadline for entries is 16^th January 2012

Earlier this year the CLA put the call out to care leavers to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write stories or poems that reflect their life’s experience.  We wanted to hear about your individual experiences from childhood:  your time in care and life after care; your best of times and your worst of times; the funny, the bizarre, the ordinary and the extraordinary. We believe that in the conventional family setting, individuals reminisce and resolve familial issues throughout their lives, an important custom which is often lacking in the life course of care leavers.  We therefore encouraged all care leavers to write their own narratives so they can share their experiences and sustain childhood memories.

A selection of the stories are now on the web site and can be downloaded from http://www.careleavers.com/care-leaver-stories

The CLA office will be closed from Friday 23rd December until Tuesday 3rd of January 2012.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has announced grant funding of £1.4m to support the development of mentoring and volunteering services for offenders. The Care Leavers Association  were successful in obtaining grant funding to pilot different schemes designed to increase the number of  ex offender care leavers mentoring other care leavers in the criminal justice system. The long term aim is to explore methods that can contribute to a reduction in reoffending amongst care leavers in the criminal justice system.

We are very excited about this new piece of work. NOMS received around 100 applications for the funding and 8 organisations, including the CLA were chosen. With nearly 1/3 of the prison population having spent time in care, this project will provide an opportunity to explore why there is a disproportionate amount of care leavers in the criminal justice system and begin to take steps to reducing the figure.