As today marks Care Day 2018 – the world’s biggest celebration of children and young people with care experience – we thought we’d share the experiences of young people with care experience who have been supported by Move On.
Care experience includes children and young people who are or were cared for by parents or other family members with the support of social workers, by foster carers, or children and young people from children’s homes and residential units.
Move On FareShare Volunteering Employability Project case study
Kenny* was living in a young person’s residential unit when he was referred to our Move On FareShare Volunteering Employability Project (MOFVEP). He had minimal contact with his mum who had moved abroad, used illegal substances and had low motivation and self-esteem.
During his time with Move On, Kenny successfully completed the MOFVEP course and earned several accredited certificates, including Health and Safety at Work, Manual Handling and Basic Food Hygiene. He also completed an SQA in Employability and was supported by our literacy service to complete his CV. After completing the six week employability programme, Kenny continued to volunteer at the FareShare warehouse, putting the theory he had learned into hands-on practice.
While volunteering at the warehouse, Kenny continued to receive one-to-one support from his key worker at Move On, who helped him research further training, employment and education opportunities. He applied for several jobs and was successful in gaining employment with Tesco. He still lives in supported accommodation where he feels settled, is no longer using drugs and his confidence and self-esteem have increased. He feels part of the community now and is interested in doing more volunteering at the FareShare warehouse on his days off. He is also in regular contact with his mum and is considering a holiday to go visit her.
Find out more about our Move On FareShare Volunteering Employability Project.
Mentoring care study
Aoife* had been in and out of care throughout most of her childhood. She was referred to our mentoring service after she dropped out of school. With an autism diagnosis and low self-esteem, Aoife struggled with social and group situations.
After Aoife picked her mentor, she decided that her mentoring goals would be to become more confident and get healthier.
In the beginning, Aoife and her mentor focused on helping Aoife practice some social skills. Each week her mentor would set her small challenges to increase her confidence when talking to people. This included trying to think of conversation starters, how to introduce other people in groups and speaking to strangers. Aoife initially found this challenging but persevered and soon people around her started to notice she was making more of an effort to start conversations.
As part of her goal to get healthier, Aoife and her mentor started to meet at a juice bar instead of coffee shops, and her mentor would give her healthy recipes every week to try at home. Aoife and her mentor also signed up to a complete a five week cookery course, with Aoife learning lots of new skills and recipes and even chatting to fellow course mates by the end of it. Aoife simultaneously attended cookery classes with Cyrenians, again challenging her fear of group situations.
Aoife’s journey from struggling to speak in a group situation to signing up to two courses and speaking to her course mates is exceptional. During her time with our mentoring service, Aoife’s self-esteem and social skills increased enormously.
Find out more about our mentoring service.
* Names have been changed
From more information about Care Day 2018 – including to watch the “Celebrate our rights” video – visit the Who Cares? Scotland website.