Corporate Parents
There is no cost to you receiving support from the Education & Engagement team if you are a Corporate Parent, and the team can offer:
The Education and Engagement team can deliver engaging and interactive sessions that work to support attendees’ knowledge and understanding of care experience and Corporate Parenting. 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 remotely, utilising platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, or an in-person session can be offered.
Training content
The session covers:
- What is care experience and who are Care Experienced people?
- What do Care Experienced people say about their experiences?
- What is Corporate Parenting, and how can it be broken down into an easily understandable concept?
- What does best practice look like when it comes to planning and reporting as a Corporate Parent?
- How can you respond to The Promise and your responsibilities as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)?
The Logistics
This session usually lasts around 3 hours, however we can be flexible on this to suit your workforce. It can be delivered as a one-off session or we can offer a programme of training sessions to reach all layers and levels of your organisation. 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.
Refresher training allows Corporate Parents to engage in a session which renews their knowledge of their statutory Corporate Parenting duties. This slightly shorter session provides attendees with contemporary evidence of the issues and challenges Care Experienced people face when receiving support from Corporate Parents.
This session usually lasts around 1 hour 30 minutes and a Training and Education Officer will be allocated to work alongside you to identify your needs and design a bespoke session for you and your colleagues.
Collaborative training spaces are useful ways to connect with other Corporate Parents and share practice and learning. An important duty of a Corporate Parent is to collaborate with other relevant Corporate Parents to ensure support is provided for Care Experienced people.
Through our Annual Participation Programme, we are able to design and deliver thematic and collaborative training sessions for Corporate Parents, offering rich insight into topics and issues identified as important by our members. These sessions are open to all interested Corporate Parents to attend and to learn more about how best to meet their duties in these key areas.
Beyond the delivery of live training, the Education and Engagement team can offer support in developing digital learning materials for dissemination among staff within your organisation.
Examples of materials we have created include:
- Content for e-Learning modules, for integration into existing platforms
- Guidance documents across a range of relevant themes
- Engaging and informative videos, including case studies
Our Digital Training and Education Officer is available to discuss your needs, and work with you to develop a bespoke digital package.
As your organisation continues on its Corporate Parenting journey, ongoing advice and consultation can be provided to ensure positive practice implementation and to keep abreast with developments across the sector.
We can review your Corporate Parenting plan and offer recommendations on areas for improvement and strengths that can be built on. We can also share with you examples of promising practice being carried out by other Corporate Parents, intended to inspire and promote collaboration.
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 Emery
Education and Engagement Manager (Corporate Parenting) (Maternity Cover)
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 lemery@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 Officer
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.
