To build an inclusive community we don’t want to use the system labels of the past. The care community should be about anyone that cares about care and the people who have been in or around it. We’ve broken it down into three rough categories to help explain our thinking.
The care community is not about removing safe spaces for particular groups but creating additional places for everyone.
Read below for a more in-depth explanation of the categories.
People who have lived and gone through the ‘care system’. The traditional part idea of our community is limited to just the system labels but the recent rebellion with care experience is an example of how this is not longer a good way to measure identity. It also does not stop at 26 but it can be a part of identity that is life long if people choose it to be. If people so choose then they can also choose to be part of the community.
Everyone has lived experience, thats why it is such a powerful phrase. It is using what people have done, seen, learned and listened to. Building a care community needs as many hands as possible. The lived experiences of others that have worked or engaged with people who have been in care is so important in this. They bring a different element that is important to an inclusive diverse community.
The third rough category of the community is one that we often think of as being outside of the community. However, those that are interested in care and helping those who are in it or have been in it, are so important. It is a broad category of people that could extend from friends to the general public. It is those who want to help but don’t have an avenue in.
