Making sure Care-Experienced people can access opportunities, services and support
Care-experienced people often face barriers to participating in activities and engaging with services, including limited access to finance and transport, changes of residence, low levels of numeracy/literacy, unresolved trauma, fear of failure, loss or rejection and problems associated with negative coping strategies.
Corporate Parents must take action to overcome these barriers, ensuring that children and young people can meaningfully access the opportunities they make available and the services and support they provide. Part of this duty is making the eligible population informed of the opportunities available.
In the video below, Gary talks about the services that would have benefitted him at university if he had known they were available.

Transcript
I think anyone that’s care experienced should have a point of contact and maybe I’ve heard about this 365 days a year, it didn’t exist in my case, but there’s supposed to be this 365 days a year accommodation. I came from a council house, I gave up my council house. I would say 95% of university students have a home to go back to, whereas I am in this small… I would love to know what the actual statistic is, but I’m in this small 5% bracket or whatever that I didn’t have anywhere to go back to, really. That would have really benefitted me if I knew straight from the bat you can have 365 days a year accommodation from the university themselves. That would cover my biggest problems throughout university. I think it is a simple solution to quite a big problem, just getting two members of staff or even a student that’s went through it, someone like myself. I know I’m wanting to go into the finance world, but getting someone that does that. There are a few care experienced people out there, and is a low number that make it to university, but maybe even once you get one person in place, you’ll eventually work out other ones that could come through, and maybe even making it a student thing, involving students on a voluntary… I would have done it on a voluntary basis. Like three or four hours a week, just pair me up with someone.
Activity 15
Your institution will have a Corporate Parenting action plan.
Find an example from your plan on how your institution plans to make sure Care-Experienced people can access opportunities, services and support and make notes on how your role could contribute to this.
Providing opportunities