City to hail care experienced young people during week-long celebration

10 October 2019

A special celebration event will be the centrepiece of Aberdeen’s activities marking the Scotland-wide Care Experienced Week later this month.

The brainchild of Scottish charity Who Cares? Scotland, the annual weekly celebration which runs from Saturday 19 to Sunday 27 October encourages children and young people with current care experience, as well as people who have left formal care, to feel positive about their background and celebrate a fundamental part of who they are.

The celebration event on Thursday 24 October at Aberdeen City Council’s Westburn Resource Centre on Westburn Road is open to those with care experience, their families, carers and guardians.

Councillor John Wheeler, Aberdeen City Council’s Educational Operational Delivery Convener, said: “As committed corporate parents we are determined to make Aberdeen a place where all children and young people, regardless of their circumstances, are valued, listened to and whose views help shape the future of the city.

“This ethos is at the heart of our working towards becoming a Unicef Children Friendly and our plans to celebrate World Children’s Day on 20 November. We want to embed children’s rights in everything we do as a Council.

“Care Experienced Week is an important time in the city’s calendar and a vital part of achieving our ambitions for our young people. We want to remove any lingering stigmas surrounding formal care and to promote positivity among care experienced young people”.

Aberdeen Care Experienced (ACE) is the group that represents the more than 550 care experienced young people in Aberdeen and one young person had this positive message: “Being part of ACE has made me realise that I am capable of so much more. We can be proud of our achievements. We work or attend college,and can influence changes that make life better for other care experienced people in Aberdeen.

“People believe in me and I can believe in myself”.

The free celebratory event at Westburn Resource Centre will run from 11am-3pm featuring food and refreshments and a host of events and activities including banner-making, cook offs, music and games. There is no need to register and anyone interested in coming along can pop in whenever they like during the event.