The Each and Every Child initiative aims to communicate the power and impact of using framing techniques when speaking about care and care experience. Today, we want to share some key updates from our work over the past few months. It has been exciting to see the interest in framing from different areas across Scotland, and we look forward to continuing to develop this work.

We have been collaborating with our Early Adopter organisations and Voices of Experience reference group to explore framing in the many different ways we all communicate. Through this, we have been sharing ideas on new ways to use the recommendations in different settings to bring the framing insights to life. We have now delivered 13 awareness raising sessions to over 200 people, building a network of framers across Scotland. These tailored sessions have included third sector organisations, statutory services, and different corporate parenting groups.

Through this work there has been a real sense of community, with so many willing to share their knowledge and experiences. There is a recognition that we are all learning as we go, but that we can all make real impact now. The generosity and openness of individuals and organisations to come together and share practice has been a very humbling experience. Each session brings a new perspective and moments of discourse.

I am always inspired by the drive and passion from everyone we have spoken to. Collectively, we can work together to create a Scotland where Each and Every Child is safe, loved, and respected.

Early Adopters
We recognise that the most powerful way to communicate the potential of reframing is for people to see it in action. We are working intensively with ‘Early Adopter’ organisations Who Cares? Scotland, The Promise and Kibble Education and Training Centre to embed framing and the toolkit across their work. You can read more about our Early Adopter work on our updated website. We are beginning to use examples of this work in our awareness raising sessions across the wider sector, sharing our learning as we progress. We are delighted to share a new blog from Hazel Darragh, Senior Communications Officer at Kibble, on how we are using the research to inform and implement the recommendations in their current fostering campaign.

Voices of Experience
Since the Voices of Experience reference group was brought together in June, we have focused on dissecting our existing session materials in depth. One of key decisions of the group was to include a film of interviews with members of the public taken from the streets of Scotland. It was felt that this was helpful to show the common assumptions people have when they think about care experience – because when we truly understand the challenges we are facing we are better equipped to change understanding through how we can present information. There have been many profound take-away moments in the sessions, such as:

‘In our society we’ve forgotten we belong to each other’

‘You don’t always have to talk about your own experience, but you can talk with passion and knowledge’

Exploring how to use the framing recommendations has been challenging, inspiring and at times messy. As Oisín shares in his new blog: ‘I have found the process of the group challenging and stimulating. There were some things I already knew but I still didn’t like to hear’ however his ‘passion to find new and different ways to frame, in support of change, was a constant’. Although we are still in the co-design phase, we have already incorporated learning from the group into our wider sector sessions. You can read more about the co-design work on our Voices of Experience page.

 

Thank you for reading, and for your continued interest in Each and Every Child. We will continue to update our website with news on our work and new opportunities to explore framing. Please follow us on twitter and LinkedIn for our latest news. If you would like to discuss how we can work with you, please contact us directly at enquiries@eachandeverychild.co.uk.

Together we can use our power as communicators to empower our communities to #KeepThePromise.

Claire O’Hara
Each and Every Child Programme Director