This session began with Meg sharing feedback from a group of young people – all of whom had been in out of home care - about the ideas we had developed so far.
Their input emphasised that they preferred prototypes which: gave young people transitioning to independence more agency and control over their lives and finances, helped them build skills for life and involved mentors matched to their interests. Overall, they really stressed the importance of supports for young people leaving care being build on a foundation of young people’s aspirations. Group members also stressed that they find the language "leaving care" anxiety provoking, because it suggests that when they make the transition there will be no one around to care for and support them in the way many other kids take for granted.
Using this feedback, the teams picked their most promising ideas to “rapid prototype”. You can see a great video about rapid protoypes here. To do this, we built models to help us think creatively about the different aspects of our prototypes.
One team’s prototype centred on helping to build social connection for young people leaving care by providing them with natural community mentors to help them navigate services and supports.
Another is designing what a rewarding and experience-filled gap year might look like for someone leaving care. Under this model, with the support of local businesses, a young person would move through a variety of workplaces chosen by them to help them discover what work most ignited their passions.
Finally, another team is exploring whether local construction companies would be interested in taking on your people who have left care to work alongside them. through their work eventually contribute to building and co-owning their own home."
