Blog: Why does the Care Review care about love?

Why does the Care Review care about love?

Rosie Moore shares her thoughts on why love and relationships are so important growing up in care, and explains why the Independent Care Review’s Love work group is committed to encouraging love in Scotland’s care system.

Love co-chairs Joanna McCreadie and Rosie Moore

What an amazing year 2018 was for love! Not only did the Independent Care Review’s Love work group gain some amazing members, but we really began to put our heads (AND hearts!) together to start thinking about how best to make all infants, children, and young people who experience care in Scotland feel loved.

Members of the Love work group have spoken at numerous conferences and events about the need for love to be at the heart of practice and how we can overcome some of the barriers. We have spoken with friends and colleagues at Scottish Attachment in Action, PINS, Barnardo’s and many more.

The understanding of the importance of love is spreading fast and there is a real interest in how we can safely incorporate it into every day practice. There are now LOVE pledges from a vast array of organisations, individuals, young people and professionals, which can be viewed on the Care Review website.

The Love work group have been working on our definition of love, our working hypothesis and our work plan for the remainder of the Journey stage.

We have been listening to all the feedback from young people with care experience who got involved with the Care Review and 1000 Voices teams and have been finding new and creative ways to feed those vital voices into all of our work.

We are continually linking in and forming partnerships with new people and hope to work alongside many organisations too.

What have we heard so far?

We have heard a LOT! And we have listened carefully to each and every voice who has spoken to us about love. So, what did we hear? We heard that we all want and need love.

We’ve heard about the many things that don’t make young people feel loved… sibling separation, frequent placement moves, changes in staff and social workers. And we have heard about amazing things that allow us to feel loved… hugs, consistent relationships, encouraging and supporting staff and carers, equal opportunities and more.

The Love work group are still listening, working together to think of solutions to barriers and ways to add rocket fuel to the amazing examples of love. We would LOVE to hear from you, so if this will be your first time talking to us, or your tenth, please get in touch!

What has everyone else been doing?

Back in October 2018, many of us walked proudly through the streets of Glasgow for the first ever LOVE rally, organised by Who Cares? Scotland. This was a fantastic event which helped to elevate the care experienced voice to a national and international level, through the media, social media and the thousands of people who saw us marching through the streets.

We have also been sharing some brilliant research and practice with each other, alongside hearing about many new pilots and projects that are beginning which aim to place love back into the care system.

The group are also lucky to have several brilliant academics who are more than willing to help inform us and share their wisdom with us as both professionals and individuals.

PINS held an event in 2018 centred entirely around love in the education system and there are many other conferences and events in the near future also featuring love as a central theme!

Let’s get creative about Love

The Care Review is exploring what love really means to infants, children and young people in care and how to make sure their daily lives are filled with it.

Starting on Valentine’s day 2019, the Love group are putting out an open call for people to send a creative contribution to be displayed on their online digital gallery.

You can contribute in any way you like – drawings, painting, photography, poetry, a song or rap to share what love means to you and help the Care Review understand what needs to happen to make sure that people who experience care feel loved.

Send the Care Review your creative contribution on LOVE

The 2018 Love Rally in Glasgow

About the author

Rosie Moore is co-chair of the Independent Care Review’s Love work group.

Rosie is originally from Manchester but has lived in Glasgow for several years.

Rosie spent the first part of her childhood in kinship care with her grandparents and the second part in numerous foster homes.

She is pursuing her passion for improving the lives of children and young people as a Social Work Honours student at the University of Strathclyde.

Rosie recently completed an internship with the Care Review.