A new project raising awareness and reducing the stigma of care experience in educational settings in Scotland has today been announced by The Fostering Network.

The Young Advocates project, funded by the Life Changes Trust and the Young Start Fund (delivered by the National Lottery Community Fund), will see young people with care experience create learning opportunities for teachers and trainee teachers around what the day-to-day reality of school or college can be like for them. The young advocates will also train foster carers to help build their awareness of how they can best support the children and young people in their care.

Sara Lurie, director of The Fostering Network in Scotland, said: ‘We are delighted to have received funding to launch this project. Our previous young people’s project, Young Champions, was successful in raising awareness of care experience among political and children’s service decision makers and we are excited to be building upon that learning. 

‘We hear so often from young people that their experience of education would be much more positive if all school staff had a better understanding of what it is like to be in care. We hope therefore that this project will help address this and, as a result, see young people with care experience be even more aspirational and inspired within education.’