Representatives of East Ayrshire’s care experienced community and corporate parent organisations have signed up to a charter, committing to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and acted on.
East Ayrshire’s Care Experienced Cabinet brings together care experienced young people with professionals from services such as health, housing, financial advice and social work.
Here, young people can raise issues or barriers they are facing, share their stories and experiences, and work together to suggest ways to make improvements.
Since helping to launch East Ayrshire’s corporate parenting action plan nearly a year ago when the charter was also conceived, the group has been reflecting on recent successes while reaffirming to continue their efforts to make lives better for the care experienced community, and ‘Keep the Promise’ – a national commitment by the Scottish Government to ensure all children and young people grow up loved, safe and respected.
Following the positive response to their Winter Warmer events, the Cabinet highlighted the need for more events like these and launched a new Summer Bonanza event at SL33.
A range of services attended with information stalls on topics such as tenancies, health and wellbeing, and rights, alongside seasonal activities and games, to create a fun and informative summertime event.
Ling Liao is a graduate intern at East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership and helped the Cabinet devise and deliver the event. She said:
“By collaborating with the young people, they were able to tell us about the support they needed. With this, we were able to invite the right services so that the information was available and accessible to them. Their feedback from previous events also meant we could tailor what else was on offer, such as the popular Therapet dog, and a clothes bank that included more menswear.”
The Cabinet also lobbied for a child-friendly survey to be included as part of the Council’s antisocial behaviour consultation. Housing Services adopted this request, offering a more inclusive engagement programme to capture a wide range of views on their proposed strategy.
Councillor Elaine Cowan is the Cabinet’s Chair, she said: “Today felt like the right time to revisit the Care Experienced Cabinet’s Charter. We’re almost one year on since it was written and some newer members will be joining us, so we want to make sure it represents the Cabinet’s shared purpose, values and arrangements that we all commit to.
“It is also important that we celebrate what has been achieved by the Cabinet so far. It showcases the positive impact of bringing people together, and how that can help tackle the pressing matters our care experienced young people face. Our services really benefit from these conversations that are leading to opportunities for collaboration and improvement.”