Promoting interests
Corporate Parents have a legal duty to promote the interests of Care-Experienced people. This means taking action which will pursue advantages or benefits for an individual, or the population as a whole, whether through advocacy, by widening access to education or employment opportunities, tackling discrimination or upholding rights.
In the video below, Jayde talks about being at a disadvantage as she didn’t own a laptop while studying.
Transcript
I was renting out a laptop. So, she managed you could rent laptops in the uni but it was usually only for a day or a week. But she said “have that until I can get something sorted for you”, and she managed to get a grant so that I could buy my own first laptop. I think I had a really poignant moment in fourth year, I was in a research class and it was for my final dissertation, and it was a lecturer that asked about using Excel, and I’d never used Excel at this point in my life and I’d never had a computer of my own. And she said about how we had to all do this work at home, and I said “I actually can’t, because I don’t have the technology”, and she kind of called me out in front of the whole class, and I think that’s when I really realised I am really different, that I stood out. And I got my first laptop. So, to think that I’d done three years of uni and not had my own computer, and I finally got it, and I just felt like it was a new start, and I was able to be on par with everyone else.
Activity 13
Your institution will have a Corporate Parenting action plan.
Find an example from your plan on how your institution plans to promote interests and make notes on how your role could contribute to this.
Assessing needs