Conference 2024
Changing Our Narrative Together, Is Love Really Enough?
On Saturday 17th February 2024, we hosted our third Black Care Experience Conference.
The Theme for this year’s annual conference was ‘Changing Our Narrative Together, Is Love really enough?!’ bringing the Voluntary Sector Workforce and Children’s Social Care Workforce in the same room as The Black Care Experience and our Care Experienced Peers, to explore and find the solutions to help improve the Care, Outcomes and Life Chances for the current and next generation of Black Children and Young People in Foster Care and Residential Care; because the narrative says we have the poorest outcomes and life chances in comparison to any other ethnic group in the Care System.
We asked ourselves and each other is LOVE really enough to change this narrative, help us heal and become who we’re meant to be? and what does this LOVE look like?
At The Black Care Experience, we see LOVE demonstrated through someone being Kind, Compassionate, Unconditional (no strings attached and not incentivised) and Caring about a person’s welfare (wellbeing), and so the question also posed was, have the Care Experienced ever experienced this kind of LOVE in our Care Journey? and has a Social Worker, Foster Carer, or any other person within Children’s Social Care, demonstrated this kind of LOVE?
Through our Black Care Experienced Panel and our Workshop, we heard “Love isn’t enough, having someone who loved me still didn’t help me deal with my identity”. We heard “Love is not enough, but it is important”. We heard “Love can be enough, if done well, with that person loving us in our entirety (every part of our lives and who we are)”. We heard “I didn’t feel loved, acknowledged or seen”, with some sharing their stories about the hostility they experienced on their Care Journey.
We were also able to take the time and look back at The Black Care Experience History and ask ourselves why 40 years later, Black Children and Young People in present day Children’s Social Care are echoing the same issues experienced by the 1984 Black and In Care Group.
Steve Stephenson MBE a retired trailblazing Social Worker and activist in the 1980’s, shared that in his time in Children’s Social Care he saw Black Children in Care who were “racially black but culturally white”. Steve shared that whilst there were challenges with Black Children being transracially placed with white families he felt that the Service put some “Good people in awkward positions because there was no anti racist training, no cultural competency training or any training on the difference between the African and Caribbean cultures” which led to Steve and his team creating ‘Black Identity Work’ to teach those Black and in Care about their culture and identity. This work also helped the Care Givers understand and promote the culture and identity of the Black Child in their Care and the work helped Steve’s Colleagues throughout the Service to understand how to raise Black Children and Young People.
Followed by our Workshop, we agreed that in order to change the narrative, the System (Children’s Social Care) must understand that there is not a one size fits all approach to caring for Children and Young People that come into Care. We agreed that those who work in the System, must take the time to actively listen and hear the voice of the Black Child and Young Person in order to care for them in a way that caters to each of their individual needs. We agreed and saw the need for those Black and In Care to have a space to learn about their culture, identity and heritage and be empowered to create their own narrative to explore and share their stories in safe, relatable spaces.
Michael Henry challenged us to think about how we would show up and advocate for Black Children and Young People in Care when they come up against discrimination and racism in School and in Society. He encouraged us to see how important it is for Black Children and Young People to have a sound sense and healthy understanding of who they are in view of the negative messages about Black Children, conveyed in the media.
Tasked with creatively writing about The Black Care Experience Journey in the spirit of the theme of our Conference, Ric Flo performed his original track ‘All I Need’ with a guest appearance made by our Founder Judith AM Denton.
Needless to say, they brought the house down with this exclusive uplifting performance!
The Track will be available on ALL Streaming Platforms from 1st October 2024 and the Official Music Video will be on YouTube (see below to access)
To affirm and celebrate our Black Care Experienced, gifts were given to our FREE Raffle Winners, with experiences donated or sponsored as follows:
Hair Cut Experience with SliderCuts
Manicure Experience (non gel) with Nails Trip
Photoshoot Experience with ShotByJo
Make Up Makeover Experience with Make Up Artist Ayesha Blackstock
Hair Braiding Experience with Beaute By Brenda
Build Your Own Treasure Tress Boxes of Hair Products that cater to Your Hair Care needs
A Gift of Dinner for two at Bills Restaurant was donated by a Care Leaver
Where Do We Go From Here?
At the close of day the delegates were encouraged to ask themselves, in relation to what they have heard and experienced, what will they do differently? What will they do to help make a difference in the life of the Black Child or Young Person in your Care?
How will they demonstrate a LOVE that is genuinely Kind, Compassionate, Unconditional and Caring?
What will you do to help keep those Black and, in their Care, connected to their Culture, Identity and Heritage so that they can be proud of who they are and where they come from?
With that mind, we have the tools here at The Black Care Experience to lead the way and create a pathway to the change way need to see for the generations of Black Children and Young People who will enter the Care System.
But with that said, we were encouraged to continue to do whatever we can do, and do it well as it will have impact and make a lasting difference in the lives of Black Care Experienced, now and beyond their time in Care.
“We are not where we want to be, but we are not where we used to be.”
Hear What They Are Saying About BCE Conference 2024