Since 2013, the Bright Spots programme has worked with children in care and care leavers to explore what makes life good for them. Their well-being is measured by the Your Life Your Care and Your Life Beyond Care surveys, which were coproduced with children and young people to capture what they felt was important. The Bright Spots programme has worked with almost 60 local authorities in England and Wales, collecting over 15,000 responses from children and young people in and leaving care. Using the surveys, we have worked with local authorities to understand how children and young people feel about their lives and have identified examples of practice improvement that were developed as a result of what young people said.
One of our most recent reports, What Makes Life Good, Care leavers’ views on their Well-being’, published by Coram Voice in collaboration with The Rees Centre showed the steep decline care leavers’ well-being after young people left care. Drawing on the Bright Spots Programme, the report examined the well being of care leavers by analysing 1,804 care leaver responses collected between 2017 and 2019 in 21 local authorities in England. This session presented the findings from the report and explore what care leavers say makes their lives good and where work is needed to make the transition easier and their lives better. It also showcased some of the ways in which the local authorities we have worked with have responded to their local findings.
Presenter: Linda Briheim-Crookall, Head of Policy and Practice Development, Coram Voice
All the information about the Brightspots project can be accessed on the Coram Voice website
Information for local authorities interested in joining the Brightspots project is here
If you would like to read more of the Coram Voice research, the publications can be found here
