Category: News

14 Aug 20

A National Voice is looking for 18 care-experienced young people, aged 16-25 from all around England, to become our 2020-2021 Ambassadors.

We are looking for young people who share our vision and values and have the skills to make A National Voice the best it can be. We are looking for ambassadors who are motivated, innovative, creative and strategic, and keen to help us grow and make a bigger impact nationally.

We want young people with a range of experience – you do not need to be an expert or to have done any work like this before. We want young people who are looking to take on new challenges and develop their skills.

A National Voice welcomes applicants from all backgrounds and aims to have diverse, inclusive range of ambassadors to bring representation of those we serve.

What do Ambassadors do?

Being an ambassador is fun but also comes with responsibility.

Ambassadors are not only responsible for representing their own views, but they also represent and advocate the views, opinions and wishes of the children in care and care leavers from their local area.

The board of ambassadors will shape A National Voice’s campaigns and design activities that allow all children in care and care leavers across England to get involved in initiatives that allow them to influence and inform decisions that affect their lives.

Ambassadors will also act as representatives and spokespeople for A National Voice and Coram Voice in the media and elsewhere.

What can A National Voice do for you?

An ambassador main purpose is to serve their peers and A National Voice, however it is also a way to build experience and networks, develop a broad range of skills and help shape a future where children in care and care leavers are listened to and their voices and experiences used to effect meaningful change in the care system.

How to apply

Email anv@coramvoice.org.uk with the following info:

Who you are: Your name, your age and the local authority you are or were looked after by.

Why you want to be an A National Voice Ambassador: In 500 words of less, please provide a brief statement that that can be about your experience, your motivations, what you would like to achieve… anything to tell us a little bit more about you!

This can be submitted as text, a voice recording or video.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 30 September 2020 at midnight.

After applications have closed, applicants will be asked to attend a virtual chat with the programme’s manager and coordinator, before we choose the final 18 successful ambassadors.

Can I get involved if I’m not an ambassador?

Of course you can!

If you don’t end up in the final 18, or you’re not old enough yet to apply to be an ambassador, you can still get involved in A National Voice virtually before we take our programme live and in person again.

Either head on over to twitter and look up #ANationalVoice and follow @CoramVoice to be notified when we’re holding virtual events and campaigns, or sign up to emails and encourage your local CICC leader, Looked After Children’s Team Head, Leaving Care Head, or DCS to sign up to our mailing list to be updated on the range of A National Voice activities and opportunities going on and find out how to get involved as we take A National Voice across the country, virtually and hopefully soon, in person.

29 Jul 20

Coram Voice is delighted to be launching a specialist homeless outreach project in Manchester for young people facing issues around homelessness. This project, the second by Coram Voice, draws on our years of experience of providing homeless outreach advocacy in London.

Our trusted independent Homeless Outreach Advocates will working with local partner agencies, provide the vital support young people need to get a safe place to live, working with young people of all ages up to age 25.

Often when a young person is unable to remain at home, or where they usually live, it can be hard to for them to get the support they need from Children’s Social Care. Our Homeless Outreach Advocates help young people navigate the systems and resolve any difficulties they have been facing. Through our Homeless Outreach Advocates we help young people move off the streets and into safe housing.  By continuing to support them beyond this process, we can help them to re-engage with the system and access the financial, housing and educational benefits to which they are entitled.

Our Homeless Outreach Advocates offer support by:

• Helping young people to understand how Children’s Social Care should help them.
• Help them to get somewhere safe to live.
• Make sure people listen to what they have to say about their life so they know what’s important to them.
• Help them get specialist advice – from a solicitor or social worker if they need it.
• Help them to get a solicitor if they need one.

Working with local partner agencies the project will run across Greater Manchester (Manchester, Trafford, Stockport, Tameside, Rochdale, Oldham, Bury, Bolton, Wigan and Salford).

Our services are free.

If you would like help call us for free on 0808 800 5792.

16 Jul 20

Last night (Wednesday 15 July 2020), Coram Voice announced the winners of our Voices creative writing competition for children in care and young care leavers, now in its fifth year.

Due to lockdown restrictions, the awards ceremony, sponsored by UK management consultancy Cadence Innova, took place online for the first time and was hosted by award-winning Scottish actor and former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi, a long-standing supporter of the competition.

Peter Capaldi said of hosting the event: “I was delighted to host the competition again this year, albeit in a different format than originally anticipated. The competition showcases the passion and talent of resilient young people whose written pieces inspire and help us to better understand the often challenging experiences that they have growing up.”

Nearly 1000 people tuned in to watch the awards on the Coram Voice YouTube channel, which alongside Peter Capaldi, featured members of this year’s judging panel including poet Mr Gee, children’s authors Lauren Child and Abi Elphinstone and rap artist Ric Flo, and featured some of the young writers reading their winning pieces.

This year’s competition saw its highest response to date, with over 300 entries on the theme of ‘Dreams’ submitted from across the country. Winners were announced across five different categories: primary (age 4-10), lower secondary (age 11-14), upper secondary (age 15-17) and care leavers (age 18-25), as well as an ‘Experiences of Covid-19’ category that was created by Coram Voice in July in response to issues faced by care-experienced young people during these unprecedented times.

Brigid Robinson, Managing Director of Coram Voice, said of the competition: “It has been a pleasure to see the competition grow over the past five years and to read the hundreds of remarkable stories, poems and raps that have been shared with us over that time. Thank you and well done to all the children and young people who have entered and made the competition what it is today – you should all be so proud.”

The event couldn’t take place without our fantastic supporters who sponsor the competition. Gita Singham-Willis, Founding Partner at Cadence Innova, the Headline Sponsor of Voices 2020, said: “We are delighted to sponsor this great event for a second year running. The Voices Awards champion children’s creativity and development and we are proud to be a part of this inspiring competition.”

The Voices 2020 winners are:

Winner of the Primary category, sponsored by Cadence Innova: ‘I See You’ by Ryan, age 10

Children’s authors Lauren Child and Piers Torday said: “We loved this poem, it has exactly that strange collision of random thoughts and images so often experienced in dreams. Most of all we were struck by the beautiful rhythm of the language.”

Winner of the Lower Secondary category: ‘Dreams Are For Everyone’ by Teoni, age 13

Author Abi Elphinstone and poet Mr Gee said: “This piece really tackles the theme of Dreams directly and succinctly. It takes the reader on a vivid journey with wonderful turns of phrases. We really felt a sense that the writer knew where they were taking us and layered the lines with an interesting mix that all offered hope.”

Winner of the Upper Secondary category, sponsored by Nick and Katie Searl: ‘Grandfather’ by Hazel, age 15

Author Christel Dee said: “The beautiful descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells really made me feel like I was there. I also found the twist at the end so heart-warming. I enjoyed this dream so much, I almost felt disappointed when it came to an end!”

Winner of the Care Leaver category, sponsored by Club Peloton: ‘My Dreams Saved Me’ by Leanne, age 24

Rap artist Ric Flo and author Paolo Hewitt said: “This is very relatable – the fusion of reality and dreams, was poignant. And we do indeed have to become ‘heroes of our own journey’ regardless of past circumstances.”

Winners of the ‘Experiences of Covid-19 category’:

• Primary winner: ‘Home Sweet Home’ by Lexi, age 6
• Lower secondary winner: ‘A Sparrow Told Me’ by Adam, age 13
• Upper secondary winner: ‘The Year The World Stood Still’ by Tom, age 17
• Care leaver winner and overall category winner: ‘Isolation in Reality’ by Saphron, age 21

The event will remain available to watch on the Coram Voice YouTube channel.

The shortlisted entries and the special category entries are available on our Voices webpage.

26 Jun 20

Coram Voice is pleased to announce that the awards ceremony for our Voices 2020 creative writing competition for children in care and young care leavers, will be streamed on the Coram Voice YouTube channel from 5pm on 15 July 2020.

The Voices awards, sponsored by UK management consultancy Cadence Innova, are normally held at an event in London, however due to the ongoing lockdown restrictions they will this year be held virtuallly.

They will be hosted by award-winning Scottish actor and former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi, and also feature members of the competition judging panel announcing this year’s winners, including poet Mr Gee, children’s authors Lauren Child and Abi Elphinstone and rap artist Ric Flo. 

Peter Capaldi said: “I’m delighted to be hosting the competition again this year, albeit in a different format than originally anticipated. The competition showcases the passion and talent of resilient young people whose written pieces inspire and help us to better understand the often challenging experiences that they have growing up.”

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Voices competition, which saw its highest response to date, with over 300 entries on the theme of ‘Dreams’ submitted from across the country. Just 24 of these have been shortlisted over four age categories: primary (age 4-10), lower secondary (age 11-14), upper secondary (age 15-17) and care leavers (age 18-25).

Brigid Robinson, Managing Director of Coram Voice, said: “We know these past few months have been incredibly challenging for many children and young people in and leaving the care system, but we continue to be inspired everyday by their resilience and creativity through difficult experiences.

“We’re so proud of everyone who entered this year’s competition and are pleased to be able to host the awards online so that we can celebrate together and share the talents of every young person who took part. There’s now another chance for care-experienced young people to get involved through our additional category, so we encourage everyone to get writing and to join us on the night!”

The category sponsors for this year’s competition include Club Peloton for the Care Leaver category, Cadence Innova for the Primary School category, Bernard and Rosemary Mayes and Nick and Katie Searl.

Gita Singham-Willis, Founding Partner at Cadence Innova, the Headline Sponsor of Voices 2020, said: “We are delighted to sponsor this great event for a second year running. The Voices Awards champion children’s creativity and development and we are proud to be a part of this inspiring competition.”

In addition to moving this year’s ceremony online, we also announced an additional ‘Experiences of Covid-19’ category. The category, open for entries now, is for young people to submit a piece inspired by their experiences from these unprecedented times. Care-experienced young people aged between 4 and 25 can enter any form of creative writing of up to 500 words before 3 July and the winner of this category will also be announced at the ceremony on 15 July.

Find out more about the Voices 2020 awards ceremony and the additional category which is now open for entries.

22 Jun 20

Today (22 June 2020) A National Voice launches its first virtual campaign, ‘Change the Label’.

During lockdown, we have taken A National Voice’s work online, using the hashtag  #ANationalVoice to host a range of activities for children in care, care leavers and the people who work with us. This has included twitter conversations, zoom sessions, and an art club. 

The children and young people involved in A National Voice have spent the last month discussing the range of stigma that children in care and care leavers face, and have designed a new campaign to help us tackle this complex issue.

The campaign aims to change people’s perceptions to understand that care experienced children and young people are more than just a care status. We want to do this by using “Change the Label” cards, which have been designed by care experienced children and young people. We want both care experienced children and young people and the people who work with them to fill them out and share them on social media.

Get involved

We would greatly appreciate if you could join us by:

• Completing a Change the Label card

For example:

Care Experienced supporter

“I am more than my care status, I am… an artist/singer/creator and mother/business owner/social worker/parent/activist and friend/strong/resilient etc.”

Allies

“You are more than your care status, I will… not use stigmatising language and challenge other when they do etc.”

• Taking a photo with your completed card

Take a photo and send it to us at anv@coramvoice.org.uk.

Or tweet your picture, tagging @coramvoice and using the hastags #ChangetheLabel and #ANationalVoice.

Get in contact

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask by getting in touch with me via anv@coramvoice.org.uk.

Download your cards

Download the Care Experienced supporter card

Download the Care Allies card