In late March, the CLA – like many other organisations – had to respond rapidly to the Covid-19 pandemic (more details here – https://www.careleavers.com/the-care-leavers-association-and-the-covid-19-pandemic/). Following that period of adjustment, we are now relaunching our public activities.
From Wednesday 15th of April we are resuming work on various projects and helping individual care leavers with advice, support and advocacy. Carrie Wilson-Harrop and Darren Coyne will provide advice, support and advocacy to care leavers and those supporting them. Alongside National Director David Graham the team will continue to work to influence national government and local authority policy and practice and in particular ensuring that care leavers are fully supported during and after the covid-19 crisis. Darren and Carrie have over a decade of direct experience of supporting care leavers in a range settings, such as during the leaving care transition, in education and in the criminal justice system. As care leavers themselves, they bring a care-leaver-led perspective to all they do.
The Care Leavers Association has always existed for care leavers of all ages. Although the current ‘social distancing’ polices may be having greater effects on the support available for younger care leavers, older care leavers remain most welcome to contact us on any issue. For example, our work on helping care leavers of all ages to access their care files continues. Do please bear with us, though, as we may need to prioritise urgent cases at this time.”
You can reach David, Darren or Carrie through our usual email address: info@careleavers.com. In your email please let us know the best way to contact you. You can also still call the office number on 0161 236 5665 although we may not be able to respond as quickly as email.
We will also be exploring the use of new technologies to try and set up some online webinars for group support sessions.
As a small charity, our resources are limited. However, we already know that many care leavers are even more isolated than usual in these circumstances. Hence our work is more important than ever.
Jim Goddard
Chair of the Board of Trustees