On Monday, Zachari and Jim held a 'keep in touch' meeting for care leavers in Glasgow. It was well-attended, with people travelling from as far afield as Edinburgh and Perth. It was an informal gathering, for a few hours, in a cafe in central Glasgow and gave people a chance to meet with other care leavers and find out more about the CLA. The age of the people there ranged from 18 to mid 60's.
In October, Will held a 'keep in touch' event in London, which also had a great turn-out and hopefully the group is going to meet up again soon.
Over the past five years or so, we have been trying out different methods of meetings and events for care leavers. We know that many people are keen to meet up with others who spent time in care as children. However, some of our events have attracted lots of people, whilst other times very few people have turned up.
We are keen to hear from care leavers, of all ages, their ideas about how these types of events should be held. At the moment, we are holding evening meetings, during the week and these seem to be going well.
We would like to hear if you are interested in meeting up in this way and also if you are not. We would also be keen to hear whether there are any barriers to attending, that we may not have thought of.
Any and all feedback is really appreciated so that we can make sure we are getting this bit of our work right!