1. "Our Care Our Say" is a mix of care experienced & non care experienced friends joined together by a shared belief that any care review must have the views of the care experienced community of all ages & in all its glorious diversity at the centre. "Nothing about us without us"
2. One of our team is Sharon Martin @SharonLMartin1 Sharon is Chair of the National IRO Managers Partnership (NIROMP) @NIROMP2. We asked Sharon to share how the project started & why she supports the #OCOS aims to get care experienced people heard at the forthcoming Care Review.>
3. Here is what Sharon had to say: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.(Shirley Chisholm)
Chisholm was an outspoken advocate for women & minorities & a true revolutionary. She fought for change & created that change through her revolutionary acts>
4. Sharon continued: "Our Care Our Say’ is about change. It’s about making sure people with care experience have *a seat at the table*. It’s about having the right conversations, with the right people, at the right time "Nothing about us without us".>
5. "I mention Chrisholm partly because I’m grateful for what she represents as an advocate for minority voices, & partly because it was her words about *a seat at the table* that prompted what has come to be the ‘Our Care Our Say’ #ocos project." >
6. Sharon added: "I don’t have experience of being in care, but I have experience of advocating for improvements for children in care & for people with lived experience of being in care. I work at local & national level as chair of the National IRO Managers Partnership (NIROMP">
7. "...My work at the National IRO Managers Partnership @NIROMP2, involves work to amplify lesser heard voices eg via our National Youth Ambassadors Advisory Group (NYAAG).">
8. Sharon added: "The OCOS team want to see much more being done, much more support for & involvement of people with direct experience of being in care; enabling them to act as ambassadors for change & having the support required to act as key influencers..."
9. "The OCOS team want to see care experienced people having *a seat at the table* when key decisions are being made about policy, service delivery & design is critical to improvement of care services #ocos "Nothing about us without us"...
10. "Much more needs to be done by government departments & the care sector to ensure that developments to services & policies are directly informed by the knowledge & experience of people with direct experience of being in care. Only then will we really see meaningful change..">
11. "Engaging the knowledge & experience of people with direct experience of being in care will ensure that service improvements following the Care Review can make a tangible difference to people’s lives over their life course". >
12. Sharon said that: "OCOS want to see a change in attitudes too, to challenge the life limiting stigma & discrimination people with care experience still face every day. We want to see this change..">.
13. "But the single most measurable aim of the ‘Our Care Our Say’ project is to hold a virtual event to gather hopes for England’s first Independent Care Review, to gather the views & priorities of the wonderfully diverse care experienced community...">
14. Sharon shared her ambition that "We want a diverse mix of folk age 16 years plus, with lived experience of being in care, to provide a collective voice about ambitions & hopes for England’s first Independent Care Review...">
15. "The #ocos team seeks to coordinate a virtual event that will enable care experienced folk to share directly what they want from England’s Care Review. The important stuff will come from the folk attending the event..." >
16. Sharon repeated the intention of the OCOS team to reach out vey soon to folk with experience of being in care to help facilitate the event. More news to come.>
17. "We've not been asked to initiate an event, nor applied or been granted any funding. Our aim is simply to bring together care experienced folk, to gain as great a range of contributions as possible from this massively diverse community on what they want from the Care Review">
18. We'll try to bring you the thoughts of other members of the #OCOS team in coming days as we finalise our arrangements to reach the care experienced community. In the meantime, please be like Sharon & support "Our Care Our Say" in our bid to get care experienced people heard.
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