A pioneering initiative to strengthen the continuing relationships that are at the heart of care has been launched in Moray โ led by care-experienced young people and practitioners working together to make sure no one feels forgotten.
The Maintaining Relationships Project has been co-designed with young people who want to stay connected to the people who have mattered most to them โ social workers, residential staff, teachers and others who have supported them through their journey in care.
The project was sparked by young people sharing their experiences of feeling โforgottenโ or โabandonedโ after moving on from care and being unsure whether they or the significant adults they knew were allowed to stay in touch.
Care-experienced young people from the Moray Champions Board called on Health & Social Care Moray (HSCM) to rethink what happens when formal care ends and to take action to make sure those vital connections, which help them feel valued and remembered, can continue.
The Maintaining Relationships Project was launched at a celebration held at UHI Moray College in Elgin this week, ahead of Care Leavers Month which runs throughout November, encouraging communities to come together, celebrate care leavers and raise awareness of their experiences.
Carl Campbell, HSCMโs Service Manager for Corporate Parenting, said the initiative was part of Morayโs commitment to The Promise โ the national ambition that all Scotlandโs children and young people will grow up loved, safe and respected, and realise their full potential โ echoing its strapline โnothing about me without meโ.
โThis all came from the work weโve been doing in relationship-based practice and, most importantly, from listening to young people,โ Carl said.
โThey told us they want to keep up relationships with the significant adults in their lives โ and as adults, we know how important those lasting connections are. We already see this happening in foster families and in our childrenโs residential homes, and we wanted to replicate that across all services.โ
Carl explained that while practitioners have always wanted to keep in touch with young people, many felt unsure how to do so safely or appropriately once their formal role ended.
โThere was a real gap โ both locally and nationally โ in how to support this. We successfully applied for external funding which allowed us to dedicate time and resource to get it right.โ
The projectโs working group, made up of care-experienced young people alongside staff from health, social care, housing and education, focused on developing practice guidance rather than rigid policy or procedure.
โThe guidance gives staff the confidence and clarity they need to maintain connections safely, while keeping the young personโs wishes at the centre of every decision,โ Carl added.
โThe young people helped hold us to account and made sure we stayed focused on what mattered to them. They helped us pitch it right โ making it flexible, meaningful and young personโfriendly.โ
Shannon, a member of both the working group and the Moray Champions Board, spoke at the launch about what the project means to her and her peers.
โThe connections we build as care-experienced young people are important. They make us feel seen, supported and capable,โ she said.
โThis project is about making sure those important relationships donโt have to stop. It means the people whoโve supported us through tough times can still be part of our story. Building stronger relationships is a step towards a brighter future for care-experienced young people.โ
The project now progresses to embedding the approach across all services to ensure staff in education, housing and social work feel empowered to maintain positive, lasting relationships.
Carl concluded: โOur Maintaining Relationships Project is already attracting national interest from the Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate and other local authorities. If we can make it work here in Moray, we can be a beacon for others across Scotland.โ
