During Summer 2020, the Voices Through Time project ran a series of one-off workshops with care-experienced young people, inspired by Coram’s Foundling Hospital archive.

During one of these sessions, participants learned about how the Foundling Hospital supported pupils to leave and enter work, and what on-going support there was once they had left, contrasting with the support available today.

The session highlighted how little information care-leavers are given about money-management, cooking and food preparation, and working life. The level of support with these things varies dramatically between different local authorities.

Based on these discussions, the group created a Manifesto for Care-Experienced Young People:

We need to tell our own stories about care and be able to see ourselves in the story care

We were all someone’s child once

We need accessible communities

We need to stop seeing young people

We need to stop seeing young people giving up before they’ve even begun

Who have given up on us before you’ve even begun

We were all someone’s child once

We want more support

Support in making health appointments

Support in budgeting

Support in cooking

Why? Because we are super stars

We want to be loved

We don’t want to see any care experienced child fail

We are not numbers, We have names

We don’t want to see inequality

Imbalance between corporate and parenting

Imagine if all freedom was lost

Deprivation were decreased

So declare to acknowledge responsibility

We demand

It’s now or never

We demand equity

We don’t need no more stigmas

Every child matters so why don’t we

Everyone needs to be welcome

We need to plan good futures for everyone

We need to be enjoy our life everyone

Everyone’s life matters if you are black or no colour

Find out more about our upcoming creative projects.