You are all invited to remember the life of our beloved Jakeb. The funeral will take place at 10am on Friday 21 January 2022 at the Old Chapel of The Manchester Crematorium (M21 7GZ). The funeral will be a brief event and will be followed by a longer reception from 11am to 2pm at a venue nearby (address to be confirmed). You are welcome to speak and share your memories of Jakeb. Please RSVP to help arrange the speakers and the catering arrangements: thanosch@yahoo.com One of the many causes close to Jakeb’s heart was the wellbeing of people with Neurofibromatosis. In lieu of flowers, you might wish to make a… Read More
Continue ReadingCase For Change Response
Read The Care Leavers Association response to the government Review of Children’s Social Care Case For Change. The Case For Change itself was just over 80 pages long and covered many different aspects of the children’s social care sector. Given the current strain on our staffing resources we only responded to areas where we felt we had prior knowledge and experience. The Case For Change does highlight some important points that we welcome. However, there are significant areas that the Case For Change has neglected. And throughout the report there are numerous instances where major assumptions have been made and where positions have been taken based on ideology rather than… Read More
Continue ReadingDarren Coyne
It is with great sadness that we announce that Care Leavers Association (CLA) Project Manager Darren Coyne has died this morning, after a short illness. Darren was one of a kind. He was a straight-talking Yorkshireman who cared passionately about improving the lives of care experienced people of all ages. Prepared to tell truth to power, he was also an amazing support worker for individual care leavers and for groups of care leavers. He could, and did, work with anyone in the cause of helping care leavers, from members of the House of Lords to young care leavers in the criminal justice system in need of support. Wherever he went,… Read More
Continue ReadingGovernment Announces Care Review
Today Friday 15th January 2021 the government finally launched a review of the care system. “The Care Leavers Association welcomes today’s announcement from the UK government of the start of the promised review of children’s social care. We look forward to helping the review understand the long-standing failures of major aspects of the current care system and contributing to the development of a far more positive future for children in care and care leavers. We especially commend the statement that “Running throughout the review will be the voices and experiences of children, young people or adults who have been looked-after, or who have received help or support from a social… Read More
Continue ReadingOffice Closed
The Care Leavers Association is now closed until January 4th. You may be able to find information you are looking for on our website. Alternatively you can email info@careleavers.com and we will get back to you in the new year.
Continue ReadingPhoto Voice
We are working in partnership with Photo Voice to explore the perspectives of care-experienced young people of different ages across England and Wales. The project uses photography and storytelling as a tool for advocacy and self-expression, as participants reflect on their perspective of what they need from relevant support services and provisions. We are looking for care leavers over 25 to take part in workshops for the next stage of the project which will provide participants opportunities to learn photographic storytelling skills to reflect on, and respond to, other participant insights into the care system. This is open to people with no photography skills and those with photography skills. Information… Read More
Continue ReadingCLA Goes Virtual
From Saturday 15th August The CLA will move to being a virtual organisation. Our Manchester office lease was up for renewal at an increased rate. This coupled with our experiences of working from home during Covid-19 led to trustees to take the decsion to move to a virtual setting. All of the team are now working from home. Our legal address is First Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW. Post will still reach us at this address but may take a few days longer than normal. Our new telephone number is 0161 826 0214. We are using a virtual telephone system. All calls will be sent to… Read More
Continue ReadingCare in the time of Covid
Just wanted to share details about Care in the time of COVID a project for the care experienced community which has just been launched by care leavers at Oxford University. This project explores the day to day lives of care experienced adults in the UK during COVID-19. They would like to know how the care community is coping and what helps them. They want to record their experiences during covid in history. This involves submitting a diary entry and completing a short survey the participants well-being and how they’re coping – which should take no more than 15-20mins to complete. Diaries can be written (200 to 600 words), a video or audio entry (3 to 5 mins), a song, music, spoken word or a poem you have written… Read More
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