Care Day 2021: Online events celebrate the rights of children with care experience
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Children and young people, care leavers, charities and professionals are getting together through a host of virtual events to celebrate Care Day 2021.
Care Day, which takes place tomorrow (Friday 19 February), is the world’s largest celebration of the rights of children and young people with care experience.
Charities including Become, the Republic of Ireland’s National Epic Youth Council and Together Scotland are among those hosting events across the UK.
To raise awareness of Care Day and champion the rights of children and young people with care experience, supporters are being asked to take place in the ‘Hands Up For Care Day’ campaign on social media.
Hello from Belfast. ✋Thank you for putting your hand for Care Day!
— VOYPIC (@VOYPIC) February 18, 2021
We want to see your hand up! ✋ Scribble #careday21 and your location on your hand, snap and share, tagging @ VOYPIC.#CareDay21 #VOYPIC #HandsUpforCareDay pic.twitter.com/I6YcBZIedW
To take part write #CareDay2021 followed by where you are from on the palm of your hand, hold it up and take a selfie then share it on social media with the hashtag.
We are getting ready to celebrate #CareDay21 🥳
— Barnardo's NI (@BarnardosNI) February 18, 2021
Although celebrations will look very different this year, we will still be #united in celebrating the #rights & #resilience of care experienced children & young people, their stories and their wonderful achievements pic.twitter.com/x80XR3Se1d
I hope everyone is enjoying the Care Day celebrations that will be going on all week! ❤️🖤#CareDay21 @epicireland @tusla @thecareexperie1 pic.twitter.com/iCQJLwygNy
— Sean Downey (@SwanDowney) February 17, 2021
From mass movie nights to online Q&As, CYP Now has rounded up some of the events organised to help celebrate despite the pandemic:
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Between 11am and 12noon, charities will jointly host an online Q&A on Zoom allowing young people from each of the five nations discuss issues the Children’s ombudsman or commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
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At 1pm, care leavers charity Leicestershire Cares will host a Care Day celebration including the launch of its new book Taking Hold of Our Heritage which has been created by care experienced young people to tell the stories of their lives.
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From 5.30pm to 7pm Become is hosting a Five Nations Link-Up offering the chance for care-experienced people aged 16-27 to get together via Zoom.
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At 9pm, Epic and Become are hosting a movie night watching Instant Family on Netflix - participants will need a laptop and Netflix. Become said: “If you’d like to join in but don’t have access to a Netflix account, we will help.”
Meanwhile, throughout the day in Scotland a host of regional events will be taking place.
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Shetland shines a light on care experience with Being the Light: a five-day event beginning on Care Day. The festival will create opportunities to engage, explore and connect with care experience from a young person’s perspective through poetry, film, art, performance and a diverse range of online workshops.
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South Lanarkshire is hosting events throughout the day with activities from yoga to crafts.
Are you celebrating Care Day 2021? Send details of your events and pictures to fiona.simpson@markallengroup.com
