Childlife

When young people need to be heard, National Children’s Bureau (NCB) provides them with a creative outlet.

NCB has just launched an innovative project with the University of Kent to help young people with experience of children’s social care to share their perspectives through creative mediums such as paining, poetry, and theatre.

‘We have been hiding the stories of young people in care whilst not serving them.’ Lemn Sissay OBE

The aim is for participants to build a sense of community and connection, while also providing new ways for others to learn from their experiences.

Poet and author, Lemn Sissay OBE, spoke passionately at the opening event, drawing on his own experience of ‘care’ to convey how important it is that people who society brands as ‘dysfunctional’ have a chance to seize back their own story and dispel the myths that exist about them.

Project participant, George agrees: ‘No one understands or knows the difficulties or discrimination that we face, and if they do it’s through media headlines not real voice and experience.’

Having a voice is powerful

NCB Director, Dame Christine Lenehan, also endorsed the role of creativity in reframing young people’s experience: ‘Very rarely do we see systems in place that really tell us about each young person, their strengths, their dreams, and their opportunities.’ Yet if we truly listen to these voices, we can begin to shape the solutions that will actually meet these young people’s needs.

Thank you for helping care-experienced young people to show the world who they really are.

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