A look back at National Care Leavers Week 2022

What a great week! The team at focusgov got stuck into lots of activity and conversations for this year’s National Care Leavers week, 24th-28th October.

An impressive five of our Care Leavers Apps went live ahead of the event, meaning our friends at Brighton and Hove, Hounslow, Norfolk, Redcar and Cleveland and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority were all able to announce their app launches in a very timely manner.  

We also had some very engaging conversations with the teams at Hull and Nottinghamshire; covering interesting and time-relevant topics including the cost of living crisis, and care leavers experiencing the move to independent living. Lastly, GMCA and Councilor Mark Hunter discussed their Care Leavers Promise with us. 

GMCA held an exciting launch event for their app, which myself and Frances were really pleased to be invited to. Andy Burnham launched the event, there was some excellent entertainment from care leavers themselves and our video all about the app’s creation was played.  

Frances commented: “It was amazing to be able to see the response to our BeeConnected app for GMCA in real time at their launch event.  We were also able to speak to lots of local organisations about the fantastic work they’re doing and see projects that Care Leavers have been involved in. It’s exciting that now the apps are live, they’re ready to be used by Care Leavers and make a difference in their lives, whilst also helping the council teams communicate more easily.” 

As part of the interviewing team, Steph said "We had a fantastic time running the sessions with both Hull and Nottinghamshire. It was great to hear directly from the young people and their PAs about what’s affecting them, and how their PAs are helping them through some challenging times. We were thrilled to hear some really lovely comments from the young people about their PAs, we had a lovely thank you ‘shout out’ from one of the young people in Hull and got to hear and see the great relationship some of the young people have with the team at Notts.” 

Jess added: “It’s been great speaking with the teams and young people across the local authorities we work in planning National Care Leavers Week 2022 for both focusgov and the teams we work with. A highlight has been reading the testimonials and watching the videos with our clients to understand how we can work to help them further." 

We have some great plans for the Care Leavers App moving into 2023; and look forward to working closely with all our Local Authority care leavers teams, making ongoing improvements and ensuring care leavers continue to coproduce and contribute to the developments.