The Care Experienced Movement

The Care Experienced Movement (CXM) is a collective of Care Experienced People working together as creative activists to drive the change we need.

We use our diverse lived experiences of the children’s social care system to support our community and create a better future for all care experienced people in the UK.

We include people of all ages in the Care Experienced Community who have spent any length of time as a child (up to 18 years old) residing in a residential home, residential school, secure unit, supported accommodation, adoptive family, kinship care, guardianship care, or foster care, among other arrangements.

We are developing a dynamic movement that is capable of having a substantial and lasting impact on all parts of the Care System, from individuals and institutions to culture and law.

We believe:

The ongoing failure of the UK care system to ensure the wellbeing of all children is an urgent Civil Rights issue that has been overlooked for too long.

Care Experienced children are some of the most vulnerable people in the nation, and their treatment reveals a core of carelessness in our society.

Care Experience can continue to cause substantial challenges for us long after leaving care, and whether we age out of the system as Care Leavers or depart in other circumstances, we should all have access to lifelong support.

Care is fundamentally political, especially for those of us who have been subjected to the Corporate Parenting of the state, and care experienced people have not yet had adequate political agency or representation.

Real change is possible, and we can support each other to integrate real care into the centre of our community, the care system, and beyond.

CARE IS A VERB

We are:

Advocating for ourselves and creating platforms to represent our diverse community.

Campaigning for policy change and more accountability from the Care system.

Connecting with each other to build and maintain a support network.

Creating art together and telling our stories.

Consulting with professionals to offer support and advice.

Educating groups and individuals through training courses and online resources.

Operating with caring and trauma-informed policies and practices.

Partnering with related organisations to collaborate on projects.

Redefining what it means to be Care Experienced.