Foster carers need to lend their full support to Voices 22. This is the annual creative writing competition organized each year by the charity Coram Voice. This year’s theme is ‘This is Me’. Children in care, as well as young care leavers, are provided with the opportunity to express their creative talents. Foster children have had this opportunity for the last seven years – the time the competition has been running. Now ‘Voices’ has grown to be an important part of the fostering calendar. Especially as it provides foster children with a platform to present their creative abilities. Its growing prominence is best described in the words of the managing director of Coram Voice, Brigid Robinson: 

“We are delighted to open the 2022 edition of the Voices creative writing competition. When we launched this competition in 2016, we had no idea that it would turn into such an important and valuable creative opportunity for care experienced children and young people across the country. Every time I hear that one of our previous finalists has gone on to achieve their goals, whether it’s continuing to write, going to university, or getting a job they love, it reminds me why this competition exists. I’m already looking forward to seeing how the young people will interpret this year’s theme and respond creatively in their writing. This is an opportunity for children and young people in and leaving care to write about what matters most to them and showcase their talents. There is no better way to learn about their experiences and celebrate their achievements.” 

Voices is especially important as so many children who come into foster care are so disadvantaged compare to their peers. Over 65% of them have suffered some form of abuse – making the work of foster carers even more challenging: many children in care suffer from stigma and issues connected to mental wellbeing. And still, only 6% of looked-after children are reported as going on to higher education which is unacceptable: (the figure is reckoned to be 12% if other variables are taken into account such as attending when older however even that is way lower than the 43% of the population who participate): as education is the path to progress in life – as well as keeping children safe through participation and engagement – every young person should have the same opportunities. Voices aim to provide just such an opportunity by providing a platform for the nation’s foster children. 

The most important aspect of the role of foster carers is to encourage, support, and, ideally, inspire. That this is far from easy is an understatement, clearly. And that’s why a competition like this is so important. Not the least because looked after children can see they can have a voice and they are being invited; indeed welcomed to speak. Their experience of being fostered really does matter and in this year of a landmark Care Review, needs to be heard more than ever. The rest of us need to understand that being disadvantaged must not and cannot be allowed to be thought a permanent state. 

There is another reason why competition like this one is so important. It keeps fostering firmly in the public eye as it attracts the participation and support of celebrities like Peter Capaldi. 

This year’s competition will be open for entries from 6 December to 28 February 2022. You can visit this site to learn more about the benefits of creative writing for children. https://www.leadersarereaders.co.uk/4-ways-your-child-can-benefit-from-creative-writing

Foster with Rainbow we have plenty of career opportunities.

Call 0330 311 2845 to speak with one of our highly professional and friendly recruitment team members. You can also leave a message on our website and arrange to have someone call you at a time to suit you. They’ll explain you could if you have a spare room and plenty of commitment, be earning between £1.5 – £3k every month. And potentially more if you train to be a therapeutic foster carer. Training with Rainbow is free and the gateway to a professional career as a foster carer.

#London #Birmingham #Manchester #Hampshire are the areas we currently have opportunities in. 

And we are recruiting to train in the following areas:

• foster care for asylum seekers.
• foster care for sibling groups.
• foster carers to support Parent and Child placements.
• foster carers to care for disabled children.

Covid restrictions have been updated. Please check for the latest government advice and guidance in order to keep yourself and all members of your fostering household safe –  https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/coronavirus An interesting blog on another foster care topic –  http://rainbowfostering.co.uk/foster-carers-should-note-the-rise-in-school-exclusions/

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