Creating and sustaining safer spaces for black children in care
This blog (and download) comes with great thanks to Barnardos for their report.
The aim of this blog is for Residential Child Care settings to evaluate their current and to create new practice (there’s a lot of references and resources to follow up!). You might use this blog as basis for a training day?
NCERCC recommend setting some time to read and absorb the report – maybe with others as a home, as an organisation, with others RIs, RMs, RCCWs. Click here to read.
Children who are Black and mixed heritage are overrepresented in the care system. Where such disproportionate representation exists there is robust evidence that it is likely the result of the compounded effects of poverty, discrimination, and racism. As a result black children in care face a range of additional challenges, including higher rates of placement instability, educational underachievement, homelessness and other issues, which are shaped by structural inequalities and systemic racism.
We can and must change this by what we do
‘Safe Spaces’ = environments, relationships, support systems, and transitions that offer the best possible experiences and outcomes for children and young people who may not be able to live permanently with their own families.
The research reinforces that creating truly safe environments requires more than policy or procedure; it demands relational trust, cultural awareness, cultural safety, and active anti-racist practice.
Part two in the download includes a checklist for your evaluation and discussion
- What makes a safe space
- What makes a space unsafe?
Part three concerns your development planning for policy and practice
The report has lots of references and resources to follow up!
Download the practice document here.
Creating and sustaining safer spaces for black children in care
