School of Social and Political Science

Description

Care experienced children and adults are often written about in court reports, assessments and policy documents, the subject of other people's words, but rarely are we the authors of our own. This seminar will explore the makings of Free Loaves on Fridays, a book containing the stories of 100 children and adults from care, which aimed to reset power dynamics. The book demonstrates that we too are capable of narrating our own lives, in our own words and in our own terms.

The seminar will explore some of the common themes which emerged from the book, including:

• How the language professionals use about children in care has the potential to shape the opportunities they may or may not receive, their future prospects and their self-confidence. And how case note recording can be adapted to centre the voice ofchildren and young people themselves. This talk is delivered by a care-experienced social worker who has read their own care records, and has been at both ends of the spectrum, having written case notes/life story books themselves from behind a computer screen, and having received their own years later.
• The power of collective activism to challenge unjust policies and human rights violations.
• Experiences of black and global majority communities in care, and what social workers can do to become better anti-oppressive and anti-racist practitioners.

Free Loaves on Fridays is available online , and proceeds go to Article 39 and The Together Trust - two charities supporting children in care and care leavers.

More about our speaker

Rebekah Pierre is a care-experienced social worker, author, and activist. She currently works for the British Association of Social Workers as the lead officer for Children and Families, working to improve policy and practice across social work in England. She has written extensively about the care system, featuring in The Guardian, The Independent, Radio 4, for Routledge publishers & others. Rebekah’s lived experience is central to her campaign work; her recent peer-reviewed journal, ‘Revisiting Diary Entries from Care: An Exposition of the Challenges of Unregulated Placement Settings’ is the first known auto-ethnographic paper featuring childhood diary extracts written in the care of the state. She is the editor of Free Loaves on Fridays, an anthology of the care system which amplifies the voices of care-experienced individuals.

This event will be chaired by Dr Robin Sen, Lecturer in Social Work, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

The seminar will be presented online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to registered attendees on the day of the event. Please ensure you check your emails!

There will be a 20 minutes approx. Q&A following the seminar.

Attendees should note that this event may be recorded.