EXPRESS REPORTER
A campaign has been launched to encourage people who experienced residential or institutional care as a child to have their voices heard.
The National Confidential Forum has kickstarted its Christmas Shine A Light On Care initiative.
The Forum hears testimony from people who experienced the care system as a child in Scotland.
It records and reports what they hear, makes recommendations for improvement and supports and signposts people to assist their recovery from their experiences.
There are currently around 17,500 young people in residential or institutional care in Scotland and the Forum wants to hear from anyone aged over 16 who has now left the institution they want to talk about.
During the festive period, Shine A Light On Care will encourage care-experienced people to have their voices heard and also highlight the fact that Christmas can be a very difficult time for people who have been in care.
Jayne Laidlaw, head of the National Confidential Forum, said: “Adults who experienced care in childhood can suffer emotional pain and distress during the festive season from the memories of previous years filled with unhappiness, neglect or abuse.
“At a time when families are gathering together to celebrate, many care-experienced adults feel more isolated and alone with their thoughts.
“Many feel unable to articulate their distress to those close to them and some hide their trauma so as not to cause upset to their loved ones.
“I would urge anyone who has experienced residential care in childhood to speak in confidence to the National Confidential Forum and find relief and comfort by sharing the memories they have been carrying.
“We know from care-experienced people who have come to the Forum how much it helped them to heal and recover from their time in care as children, and how much their voices help Scotland to ensure we learn from the past and make things better for children in care now and in the future.”
Forum member Dr Tara PenningtonTwist, a consultant clinical psychologist, said Christmas can be a very difficult time.
She explained: “We have heard varied experiences relating to Christmas, some of them have been really sad.
“We have heard from care-experienced people who have never really celebrated Christmas at any stage in their life.
“Some people went into care and never received any Christmas presents, never had any acknowledgement that it was Christmas, no Christmas dinners, none of those things you would expect children to enjoy at Christmas time.
“Christmas time can act as a trigger for care-experienced people. We have heard from people talking about the guilt they experience at Christmas when they receive presents because that was never their experience when they were in care or prior to them going into care.
“We would like to invite them to come along to the forum and have their voice heard.”
If you experienced institutional care in Scotland and want to be formally heard and acknowledged, call NCF on 0800 121 4773 or go to https:// www. nationalconfidentialforum.org.uk