Leaving Care
Key Partners
- Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP)
Audience
The target group is young people leaving care, which includes all Local Authority controlled care from residential to foster homes.
Process/activity
The project consisted of creating an illustrated leaflet about leaving care with a visual and literary style appealing to young people. The leaflets themselves were designed by a professional design team however SCCYP organised consultations with groups of children and young people from the target audience. These consultations took place before the formal design process commenced and at the final proofing stage of the proposed document.
The "focus" groups were consulted on such things as layout, illustration and language. A Key finding from the group was the need to place legislation in the context of real life experience by means of quotations from individuals who had lived the experience. In addition feedback from the group revealed that the dark humour adopted by the illustrator and emphasised by the designers strengthened the appeal to the target audience. The consultation ensured that the leaflet created featured an appropriate style and tone for the target audience.
Context
In 1991 Scotland signed up to an international agreement - the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. A commissioner was appointed under the name of ‘Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People’ with a legal duty to ensure the terms of the agreement were met by public, private and voluntary organisations. SCCYP was established as a means of safeguarding the application of these rights.
Local Authorities have an obligation to ensure young people in their care are provided for when they leave care and to advise these young people of their rights under the UNCRC agreement.
Both workers and young people were not aware of young people’s rights when moving out of care, and that one of the key messages to communicate was that you don’t have to leave the care system at 16.
Aim
The aim of the project was to inform, by way of a series of documents, young people leaving care of their statutory rights as laid down by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Objectives
The document objectives were to provide an informal but accurate link with the work of the SCCYP with an approachable and friendly style. Central to this was a desire to raise awareness of the SCCYP so young people leaving care would know there is an independent regulatory organisation looking after their interests. A key objective was to ensure young people leaving care were (and are) aware of their rights and the likely consequences (both positive and negative) of leaving care. In addition to informing them that that leaving care does not necessarily mean leaving the care system. By bringing to the young person’s attention their entitlement to a positive experience with support and guidance when leaving care, a further objective is to ensure other interested agencies will also be aware of these entitlements.
Outcome
The project outcome has been to enable well-equipped and well-informed young people to make mature decisions based on a confident knowledge of what to expect when leaving care.
Find out more
Click here for Leaving care leaflet (pdf, 1.8mb)
