SCRA’s Voice of Experience Reference Group

A key part of our commitment to Keep The Promise is to engage with people who have experience of care/Children’s Hearings.

As part of this work, we created an internal Voice of Experience Reference Group. The group is made up of SCRA staff from across the country with a wide range of experiences of care, including fostering, adoption, being in care and as kinship carers.

The group was formed in March 2022 and since that time have met regularly to identify areas for improvement for children, young people and families attending Hearings, as well as developing ideas to support SCRA staff to deliver on The Promise.

The group recently submitted their first report of recommendations to SCRA’s Keeping The Promise Programme Board and our Executive Management Team. The report covers leaflets and letters distribution, Information Governance and non-disclosure and improvements to the letters we send.

Until now, the group has met virtually, but during Care Experienced Week in October, the group got together for the first time. The focus of the meeting was on continued improvements for children, young people and families involved in the Hearings System.

Collette Gallagher, SCRA’s Keeping the Promise Operational Change Lead who co-chairs the group said: “The Voice of Experience Reference group is a really supportive group. Being a professional working within the care system and having lived experience of care and Children’s Hearings can present challenges at times, having a group like this gives a safe space to raise any issues or challenges.”