Supporting young people to speak & be heard
As we begin to plan the next phase of delivery for We Belong, our arts enrichment programme for young people in care, Marina Lewis-King reflects on what we've learnt so far
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We Belong
Building a supportive community and creative platform to empower children in care
We Belong is a programme designed to tackle loneliness by building a supportive community and creative platform to empower children in care.
The arts enrichment programme aims to:
- Build relationships between looked after children and local authorities
- Connect children in care with each other
- Raise awareness of their experiences and give them a space, platform and voice
The programme is kindly supported by Co-op Foundation, part of the national Building Connections Fund supported by HM Government and National Lottery Community Fund.
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Programme design
The programme was co-designed by a collective of care leavers in partnership with A New Direction in 2019.
Over the course of four creative sessions (March-April 2019) our Care Leavers Collective came together to co-design We Belong. Through creative mapping and research, conversations, creative writing, visioning, arts and project design activities, the Collective produced a series of four project designs. These designs centred on the themes of Healing (or Breathing Space), Creative Expression, Connections and Awareness, which emerged as core to the process and came to serve as the ethos and foundation of We Belong.
When taking part on this programme, I did not know what to expect. This project helped me to build my confidence as I am shy and reserved individual. I met other people like myself from the care system which later developed into new friendships which is nice because I have never had a friend who went through the care system like myself. I learnt new things such as making short awareness videos. Overall it was an unbelievable experience and a memorable happening.
– Member of Care Leavers Collective
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Programme delivery
The first phase of We Belong took place earlier this year, with creative sessions running from January to March 2020, along with some virtual keeping-in touch sessions for the group over the summer.
We are currently planning the second phase of delivery, which we anticipate to take place in Spring or Summer 2021.
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Resources
The Care Leavers Collective devised a manifesto of values to underpin the work of We Belong.
In Spring 2020, our cohort of We Belong participants created a short film called ‘Changing Attitudes’ about challenging negative assumptions of children in care.
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Get involved
The programme is for 11 to 18-year-old children who:
- Are either in care or are care leavers
- Are based in the local authorities of Brent, Harrow, Ealing and Barnet
We work closely with the Virtual Schools in those boroughs to recruit participants. If you know a young person in care who would like to take part, please get in touch with their Virtual School to find out how.
We are always looking for ways to collaborate with other organisations, artists and creative practitioners on the programme. If you have experience of working on projects with looked after children and are interested in supporting our We Belong programme, please get in touch.
