Corporate Parents
The Education and Engagement team are funded by the Scottish Government to provide training to Corporate Parents on how to fulfil your statutory Corporate Parenting duties to Care Experienced people.
Within the Scottish Government funding, the team can deliver engaging and interactive sessions to board, senior management and leadership level within Corporate Parenting organisations. This includes elected members within local authorities. Our experienced Education and Engagement Officers will work with you to ensure the session is tailored to you and your organisation. The content of this training is fully-informed by the voice of Care Experienced people – children, young people and adults who have lived experience of care.
This session can be delivered in-person or remotely, utilising Microsoft Teams.
The session covers:
- What is care experience is.
- Corporate Parenting legislation – and how you can implement this in policy and in practice at your organisation.
- An overview of the key issues our advocacy workers support Care Experienced people with.
- How you can play a key role in keeping The Promise and securing a lifetime of equality, respect, and love, for Care Experienced people.
A session usually lasts around 3 hours, however we can be flexible on this to suit your workforce. It is encouraged that all senior staff and board members participate in Corporate Parenting training.
If you would like to explore this training option then we will allocate an officer to work alongside you to coordinate the input and liaise with your staff about their needs.
We have a high quality and engaging e-learning module that you can roll out to all staff within your organisation, regardless of their role. Our modules have the voice of Care Experienced people at their core and are continually updated to ensure that they contain the most up-to-date evidence.
Every year, we host a number of collaborative learning events based on key advocacy issues that Care Experienced people face. These are a useful way to connect with other Corporate Parents to learn and share practice. An important duty of a Corporate Parent is to collaborate with other Corporate Parents to ensure support is provided to Care Experienced people. These sessions are open to anyone working within a Corporate Parenting body and you are welcome to join more than one session. Each of these learning events is presented live on Microsoft Teams.
“This is one of the best and most informative sessions I’ve attended.” – local councillor
“This was an amazing session that raised my understanding and responsibilities in my role as a Corporate Parent. Well presented in a way that was meaningful, interactive and valuable. Would highly recommend this.”- Bespoke session feedback
“Fantastic presenter – clear, enthusiastic. Good mix of slides and breakout rooms and follow on resources. Great networking during breakouts and sharing experiences. A quick and well spent 2 hours training.” – Collaborative Themed Event feedback
“I have attended Corporate Parenting training before, but this has served as an excellent refresher. It provides information around our legislative obligations as a Corporate Parent and the importance of removing lifelong barriers Care Experienced people can face. I highly recommend this training.” – E-learning feedback
Schools
Through our Communities that Care programme, we support schools to achieve the Care Aware Award. By taking a whole-school approach, we can offer:
- Training for all staff within a school community
- Pupil-facing inputs
- Support with data collection, monitoring and evaluation
- PSE curriculum resources from early years right through to S6
- Resources for parents/carers and the wider school community.
For more information please see our guide to Creating inclusive communities through our Whole-School Approach or email lgoldie@whocaresscotland.org
“Lesson was fantastic. Resources are perfect. We haven’t had anything like this before…”
– Teacher feedback, 2023
“I hardly had any knowledge of this topic around Care Experienced children and corporate parenting so I have definitely learned something that I can use to better support the children I work with.”
– Teacher feedback, 2023
“I think for me it reinforces the ethos of the school, appreciation and awareness of challenges that arise for pupils and trying to support them was good at the classroom teacher level because quite often that would fall on us as pastoral staff or deputies. So the whole-school approach is helping staff to have confidence”
– Pastoral Support Teacher, 2023
Workforces
People with care experience have so much to offer your organisation.
Do you want to attract talent from the Care Experienced community into your teams, but not sure how? Do you want to ensure you can create the conditions to help all colleagues thrive? We can provide help and support for your entire workforce to become Care Aware.
Who Cares? Scotland is the world-leading organisation for Care Experienced people, specialising in creating a care aware world where Care Experienced people can thrive. As your training provider, you will benefit from our unique position as a truly independent body, solely focused on representing the voices of Care Experienced people, with a record in influencing positive change for those with lived experience of care.
For more information get in touch with lgoldie@whocaresscotland.org
“I found the whole training provided was delivered in a very personable way and I feel more aware of what may or may not be required from a support perspective towards the Care Experienced people. I look forward to giving them the support and experience they deserve.”
– Training participant, 2023
“Both classes were well facilitated which resulted in great engagement and interactions. The pace and starting material were good to help us be in a more understanding and knowledgeable space. informative. gave space for own reflections along the way.”
– Training participant, 2023
“The best course I’ve done”
– Training participant, 2023
Meet the Team
Lynsey Carey
Education and Engagement Manager (Corporate Parenting)
Lynsey has a background in psychology and previous experience working in residential childcare and within education settings. Lynsey joined Who Cares? Scotland in 2016 as an Advocacy and Participation Worker, although the majority of her time within the organisation has been spent leading on the development and evolution of the organisation’s whole-school approach. This involved designing the training and support offered to whole-school communities, and delivering training inputs to Corporate Parents in Renfrewshire as part of our Communities that Care programme.
Lynsey joined the Education and Engagement team as manager in August 2023. She is passionate about supporting Corporate Parents to fulfil their statutory duties and to ensure that Care Experienced people experience a lifetime of equality, respect and love.
To contact Lynsey, please email lcarey@whocaresscotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
Laurie Goldie
Project Manager: Communities that Care
To contact Laurie, please email lgoldie@whocaresscotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
Chloe Dobson
Education and Engagement Manager (Maternity Leave)
Chloe manages the Education and Engagement team at Who Cares? Scotland and leads on the training and support for Corporate Parents across Scotland. Prior to this role Chloe worked at Glasgow Caledonian University, supporting the transition of articulating students. Chloe has a well-developed career within widening access and participation, previously leading on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s widening access schools programme and being instrumental in the development and implementation of their Transitions programme. Her work supporting those with a care experience began at RCS, developing their strategy for achieving the Buttle UK Quality Mark in 2015.
Chloe is delighted to now be working with Who Cares? Scotland, to support the vision of a lifetime of equality, respect and love for Care Experienced people.
To contact Chloe, please email cdobson@whocaresscotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
Emma Brannigan McQueen
Education and Engagement Coordinator
Emma joined Who Cares? Scotland in 2017 as an Advocate in North Lanarkshire. She worked closely with Care Experienced people and young people with additional support needs throughout their care journey, ensuring that their views and rights were upheld. In July 2019 Emma joined the Education and Engagement
team as an Education and Engagement Officer.
In previous years Emma spent time as a residential worker, working and living closely with Care Experienced young people. Emma then moved onto become a Behavioural Support Advisor with the Positive Behaviour Support Team within the Richmond Fellowship, where she worked closely with individuals with sever autism.
Volunteering is very close to Emma’s heart and she has worked with young people for over 11 years across different organisations. Emma spent many years as a Sgt with the Army Cadet Force, supporting and training young people through their time with the ACF.
To contact Emma, please email emcqueen@whocaresscotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
Jen Flynn
Digital Education and Engagement Officer
Jennifer joined Who Cares? Scotland as a Digital Education and Engagement Officer in March 2022.
Jennifer supports in the creation and delivery of various training and education projects designed to inform Corporate Parents about their responsibilities in safeguarding and supporting Care Experienced people. Jennifer produces bespoke training content and materials for Corporate Parents and organisations with an interest in Good Parenting best practices.
Jennifer comes from a retail background having previously worked for John Lewis and Apple where she developed excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
She is a keen photographer, calling herself an enthusiastic amateur, and has always been interested in all things creative. She is excited to be bringing these skills to this role to help ensure the voice of Care Experienced people is being heard.
To contact Jen, please email jflynn@whocarescotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
Dionne Harty
Education and Engagement Officer
Dionne joined Who Cares? Scotland as an Education and Engagement Officer in August 2023. She will be delivering learning sessions to Corporate Parents to help them understand care experience and fulfill their statutory duties. Dionne is passionate about ensuring that Care Experienced people have a lifetime of equality, respect, and love.
Dionne has a background in Sociology, and has previously worked within the education sector. Dionne’s last role was with Action for Children’s STAY Mentoring Service, based within City of Glasgow College. She primarily mentored Care Experienced students to help them sustain at college, and also supported young people to transition from school to college. Prior to this, Dionne undertook teacher training to become a Modern Studies teacher, and has previously volunteered with MCR Pathways too. Dionne is passionate about helping Care Experienced people reach their potential, and widening their access to further and higher education.
To contact Dionne, please email dharty@whocaresscotland.org or phone the National Office on 0141 226 4441.
