In 2021 we were successful in securing funding from the Promise Partnership to be able to employ Dylan Duff as our care experienced Engagement and Participation Lead. Dylan’s remit will support our work in education and will also contribute to the entirety of SAIA’s activities: our events, resources, and training.

Our Trustees are very committed to truly embed The Promise throughout everything we do from strategic thinking to planning to practice.

We ask that our members, friends, and networks contribute with us to enable us to #KeepThePromise together.

SAIA has a strong passion and ambition to achieve the foundations and recommendations of The Promise. Through the past year, we have started to re-think exactly what we do, how we do it and who we do it with. To involve young people wherever we have opportunity.  We have held development sessions with our Trustees, Development Team and Training Associates to review just that, and one thing we call all agree on is that we want to achieve The Promise together.

We have developed a plan that will better listen to and talk with those who have direct experience of care. We want to make sure that what we say, where we say it and how we say it connects with  and also reflects the needs and views of children and young people and those who have care experience.

We acknowledge that prior to The Promise SAIA did not have a structure to fully enable those with care experience to work with and influence our activities. Over the past few months, we have been working   on this with some key organisations supporting us. We are keen to develop a focus group of young people who will be the people we go to first with anything we are looking at changing, adding or taking away but most importantly to capture their views on what works, what could be better and what they would like to bring in.

We have made good progress with our Education Project ensuring the voice of  children and young people within schools is embedded. We have heard and listened to what  it is like to be care experienced. How this can impact on a day in the life in school; what can help, what can hinder and  what  people can do together to help care experienced people through education.

Our Care Experienced Engagement and Participation Lead, Dylan, will be supporting us to keep to The Promise and leading the work around linking all of our work together.

If you are care experienced and would like to get involved with our work please get in touch! We are always keen to hear from people and would love for more care experienced people to be part of our SAIA Family. 

Many thanks to Donna Ashworth and the Etcs for sharing ‘The Promise’ poem.