Leaving care organizations and care experienced individuals across the country come together to celebrate and advocate for care leavers, amplifying their voices, raising awareness, and encouraging policy change.
Care experienced individuals and professionals from across the Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers including Catch22 NLCBF, Become, Coram Voice, Care Leavers Covenant, Rees Foundation, Drive Forward, The National House Project and Barnardo’s to co-ordinate this years #NCLW efforts nationally.
Here’s a round up of decisions and resources we have created together!
#NCLW dates:
Care experienced individuals decided that we should have a week of celebration between Monday 28th October and Sunday 3rd November (please don’t worry if your event spills into a week or so before or after – our NLCBF events are the week after to give space to Local Activities).
#NCLW Theme:
The group designed and delivered a consultation exercise to develop and vote on a theme for the event. The theme for the event is “All of Us, We Are One”.
The theme is about community – creating connections and building stronger communities for care experienced individuals.
“I picked “All of Us, We are One” as when I am with other care leavers I really do feel the most understood. I really do feel like we are one.” (A Care Experienced Individual)
#NCLW Call to Action:
The planning group decided to use a Call to Action as a way to help individuals and organisations to think about how they can take part in #NCLW
“This National Care Leavers’ Week 2024, we’re calling on the public, professionals, carers, decision makers, and the media to CARE”
Celebrate: care leavers/care experienced individuals.
Amplify: their voices.
Raise: awareness of challenges.
Encourage: change in policy and practice.
#NCLW Programme of Events
The group worked together to produce a programme of events, campaigns, activities and opportunities for care experienced young people across the country. The programme summarizes 29 opportunities over the coming weeks including conferences, performances, awareness sessions for jobs, HE Opportunities, awareness raising campaigns such as lighting up public buildings and planting trees. Hopefully you can get along to some of the events, engage with the campaigns or at least the information for creating future projects and initiatives.
Download the programme here – National Care Leavers Week #NCLW
Local and Local Authority events
We are also keen to hear about your local events – not to advertise them as we expect that would create issues for managing interest – but to celebrate all the great work that we know local services are doing up and down the county for #NCLW.
Please let us know about some of your events so that we can shout about it and celebrate your work by completing this form https://forms.office.com/e/1fAz1d8D6P
Social Media Assets
Our group has created images that can be used to advertise NCLW, amplify voices and help raise awareness about the achievements of care experienced individuals and the challenges they face which you can post on social media, websites or incorporate into your emails e.g. signature strip
#NCLW Theme and dates square image
#NCLW Theme and dates landscape image
#NCLW Photo template V1 (overlay quotes from care experienced individuals and professionals)
#NCLW Quotes template V2 (overlay quotes from care experienced individuals and professionals)
Things to watch out for!
If that wasn’t enough keep your eyes peeled (well we will share it anyway) for #NCLW Launch videos and in November we will have #NCLW Wrapped where we will try and celebrate everything that has happened. The best way to see and celebrate everything other than running your events and getting along to other events is to track the #NCLW hashtag and share the good news!!
Thank you!
On behalf of the Alliance subgroup NLCBF would like to thank care experienced individuals and professionals across the country for the hard work we know they have already put in – including local authority leaving care teams, charities, civil servants, corporate parents and members of the subgroup for pulling all of this together.
We wish everyone an enjoyable and successful #NCLW
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