Young people in care in Perth and Kinross to benefit from £225,000

Young people in care in Perth and Kinross should benefit from funding of £225,000.

Charity Life Changes Trust has provided the financial boost which will be used to set up a local ‘champions board’ in the area.

The boards are designed to provide a platform for young people to talk directly to council staff, elected members and service providers to articulate the challenges that being in care can bring and how these challenges can be faced and overcome with the right support.

The Perth and Kinross champions board approach will bring together two groups.

One is called FYI (Fun Young Individuals) and the other is the Corporate Parenting Group.

Sheena Devlin, Perth and Kinross Council’s director of education and children’s services, said: “The creation of a champions board for Perth and Kinross comes at a very opportune moment. I am delighted that this funding from the Life Changes Trust will help enable the young people of FYI to build on their present links with corporate parents so that they can take forward ideas to generate the most effective support possible for careexperienced young people.”

Heather Coady, director of the trust’s Care Experienced Young People Programme, said: “There is a growing network of champions boards in Scotland that genuinely work in partnership with young people, pulling on their expertise about how things can be improved in their local areas.

“Champions boards show care-experienced young people that they are supported, listened to and respected – the impact of which can be transformational.”