Coram and the Churchill Fellowship have come together to launch a new Fellowship programme, funding up to 30 Fellows to develop new ideas and best practice for improving the lives of children and young people with experience of care.
The Fellowships, on the theme of Children and young people with experience of care, will fund individuals to discover new ideas and approaches from leading practitioners anywhere in the world, in order to develop innovative solutions for improving children’s social care in the UK. Fellows are funded to spend up to two months researching global best practice in a practical topic of their own choosing, and are then supported to use their findings to lead change in their communities and sectors across the UK.
Applications are particularly encouraged from people with experience of care themselves, as well as foster carers, kinship carers and adopters. They are also welcome from researchers, educators, social workers and those in the health, charity, justice and education sectors.
This new Fellowship theme opens for applications in September and marks the start of a three-year partnership between the Churchill Fellowship, Coram Group and the Hadley Trust, who are supporting the programme. Ten Fellows will be supported each year to form a cohort of individuals working to inspire and deliver change in children’s social care. This theme of is one of 12 themes overall, designed to uncover new approaches to some of the UK’s biggest challenges.
Dr Carol Homden, Coram CEO, said: “For Coram the opportunity to partner with the Churchill Fellowship in launching and developing the theme of “Children and young people with experience of care” represents a natural fit. We are very excited by the opportunity the partnership represents to further advance the body of knowledge on a group of children and young people who have all too often being under-represented in the public discourse. Our vision is for the Fellows to go on and become leaders and change makers, sharing their knowledge and experience to ensure that policies and practice change and evolve, leading to better lives for children and young people. I believe the Fellows who are selected will have the potential to make a significant impact in driving insight, improvement and innovation and bringing about the change we need to see.”
Julia Weston, CEO of the Churchill Fellowship, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Coram Group and the Hadley Trust to launch a new programme of Churchill Fellowships seeking ideas and solutions from around the world to improve the lives and outcomes of children and young people with experience of care. Every year we are inspired by the passion and determination of Churchill Fellows to make a difference, supported by the knowledge and ideas acquired through their Fellowship research. We look forward to welcoming applications in September from any UK citizen with a vision for change in this area.”
Applications for Churchill Fellowships will be open 13 September – 22 November, for projects to start in 2023. For details and alerts, visit www.churchillfellowship.org.
For more information, please visit https://www.churchillfellowship.org/our-impact/children-and-young-people-with-experience-of-care.
For press enquiries please contact press@churchillfellowship.org
About the Churchill Fellowship
The Churchill Fellowship is a national network of 3,800 dynamic individuals who are inspiring change in every area of UK life. They come from all parts of society and are united by a common mission: to develop new solutions for today’s key challenges, based on learning from the world.
Each year, over 100 Churchill Fellows are funded to discover new ideas and best practice overseas in any practical issue they care passionately about, anywhere in the world. They meet leading practitioners, engage with cutting-edge projects and create a report on their findings. We then help them to share their insights with communities and sectors across the UK and turn their ideas into action. The international research can be undertaken through travel or online and we encourage Fellows to carefully consider their carbon footprint.
Churchill Fellowships are open to all adult UK citizens, regardless of qualifications, background or age. The Fellowship was set up in 1965 as the living legacy of Sir Winston Churchill for the nation. The Churchill Fellowship is the operating name of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, registered charity number 313952.
About Coram
Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity, supporting children and young people since 1739. Originating as the Foundling Hospital, today we work as a group of specialist organisations – the Coram Group – helping more than a million children, young people, families and professionals every year.
We support children and young people from infancy to independence, creating change that lasts a lifetime through our range of activities. These include:
- Free legal advice and representation for thousands of children and families every year
- Adoption, fostering, kinship and therapy services
- Life skills, drama and volunteer reading programmes for school children in 2,000 schools nationwide
- Advocacy for children and young people in and leaving care
- Best practice support for children’s services professionals, teachers and families
- Research based on our experience to support front line professionals deliver better services for children and young people
Website: coram.org.uk
Twitter: @Coram
Facebook: Coramsince1739
Instagram: coram.uk
About the Hadley Trust
The Hadley Trust is a UK-based grant making charity. The Hadley Trust funds charities and programmes of work with the aim of improving the lives of people who are disadvantaged, mainly in the UK. It supports a number of charities, often on a long term basis. Within that broad remit, strategic areas of focus include looked after children and criminal justice.