Kenny McGhee of CELCIS introduces the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant conference 2019.

1. ScottishCareLeaversCovenant
SupportingScotlandCorporateParents
ToBeTheBestTheyCanBe
“The ache for home
lives in all of us. The
safe place where we
can go as we are and
not be questioned.”
(Maya Angelou)

2. What’s been happening with
the SCLC
Continued corporate endorsements
and sign-ups
Supporting corporate parents to
incorporate principles and actions into
local plans
Consultation responses
Hosting and facilitating discussion and
roundtable events
Practice notes

3. Changing culture & practice…
towards a new ‘norm’
“Implementing policy effectively is a
recognised challenge. Child care policies,
particularly for care leavers, can take a long
time to become part of mainstream everyday
practice. Successfully and meaningfully
implementing the Act needs on-going political
commitment, with leadership at national and
local level to support organisations and
services to go beyond mere compliance to
aspire to excellence”
(SCLC, 2015).

4. Scottish Care Leavers
Covenant
A Promise to Act
• Actively endorse the Scottish
Care Leavers Covenant and
commit to uphold and promote its
principles, within and across their
remits and responsibilities and;
• Take specific relevant action to
fully support and implement the
Agenda for Change in order to
close the gap and make real our
ambitions and aspirations for care
leavers

5. ‘within-care adversity & the reverberating
impact of impermanence of a flawed care
system on looked after young people’s
mental health’
‘The systemic and psychological dynamics
of placement instability’
‘Felt security is everything’
(Tarren-Sweeney, 2017)

6. All care is preparation for adult life
• Preparation for adulthood is not simply ‘preparation
for independence….For most people parental
support, however intermittent carries on into
their twenties. Young people in care also need
this support…
• Security is provided for children and young people
through consistency of care in an environment
which is predictable and consistent

8. • Independent living is wholly unrealistic to human nature
• Shift away from neoliberal ideals that are entrenched in our own
policies with expectation of independent living to
interdependent living
Ubuntu
(Zulu pronunciation: [ùɓúntʼù]) is a Nguni Bantu term meaning
"humanity". It is often translated as "I am because we are," and
also "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more
philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of
sharing that connects all humanity".
Transitioning Out of Care in SA: Towards Ubuntu and Interdependent Living (Moodley, 2019)

9. • The time to re-connect with roots and to seek validation of their
identities, which is deeply embedded in the need to “belong to
someone” or “be cared for by someone.”
• Reliance on others and interdependence, when extricated from
their neoliberal connotations of people having to ‘pull
themselves up by their own bootstraps’ with minimal state
intervention, are not antithetical with resilience.
• “Relationship-centred resilience aligns well with African Ubuntu
values, which emphasize social connections as the crucible of
personhood.” (Van Breda, 2018)

10. “What is home? My favourite definition is ‘a
safe place’, a place where one is free from
attack, a place where one experiences secure
relationships and affirmation. It's a place
where people share and understand each
other. Its relationships are nurturing. The
people in it do not need to be perfect;
instead, they need to be honest, loving,
supportive, recognizing a common humanity
that makes all of us vulnerable.”
(Gladys Hunt)

11. Home
Connection
Felt Security