Our Vision
Our Vision
· Black and mixed heritage children feel beautiful, confident and understood.
· Professionals understand the nuance of working with black and mixed heritage children.
· Foster carers, adoptive parents, Residential settings and secure settings have the tools and knowledge to meet the needs of black and mixed heritage children in their care.
Our offer
· The “Replenish Culture” gift box – containing…
· Workshops & training courses for professionals, young people and foster carers.
· Consultation service on inclusion, race equality and Anti racist corporate parenting.
The struggle
Black Children are overrepresented in the care system. There are some great Foster Carers out there ready to welcome them in with open arms. However, they need some help. Hair care and skin care are essential aspects of black identity. The impact of these needs not being met has been detrimental for many care experienced young people for far too long.
Foster Carers continue to do amazing work under difficult circumstances. However, the support they receive is dated. We feel there is a need for more dynamic support to enable foster carers to meet the complex and changing needs of the children in their care.
Foster Carers, Adopters, residential settings, and secure settings may need help to understand and support the needs of black children in their care. The “Replenish” boxes are an innovative way to boost the cultural competence of those involved in Corporate Parenting; ensuring that the hair and skin care needs of children in care are tended to appropriately.
Race can be uncomfortable to talk about even for Social Workers. The “Replenish” boxes are a way to begin the discussion by proactively discussing the different needs of black and mixed heritage children.
Foster Carers were feeling vulnerable and unsupported around looking after children who identify as black. We realised that there are some gaps in the available support re looking after children from diverse backgrounds.
Legislation
Children develop their sense of identity from the environment in which they live and the role models and relationships that are significant in their lives.
The development of a positive racial identity is extremely important to the overall wellbeing of a child or young person, and a positive identity is unlikely to be acquired without positive support and reinforcement.
Care experienced children often face a number of challenges with identity as they have been separated from their birth families. Black and mixed heritage children face the added challenges linked to racism and discrimination in society. The intersection of these two positions creates a set of needs that unless proactively addressed may lead to overwhelm for young people.
The Fostering National Minimum Standards 2011 reinforce the development of identity and self esteem as fundamental to the fostering task.
STANDARD 2 – Promoting a positive identity, potential and valuing diversity through individualised care.
Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that “Children who cannot be looked after by their own family have a right to special care and must be looked after properly, by people who respect their ethnic group, religion, culture and language”.
Self-esteem is the opinion we have of ourselves. When we have healthy self-esteem, we tend to feel positive about ourselves and about life in general. It makes us better able to deal with life's ups and downs. When our self-esteem is low, we are more likely to see ourselves and our life in a more negative and critical light.
Raising low self-esteem - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Young Black people and children often highlight the significance of hair and skin colour to their life experiences, their relationships with themselves and others and their relationships with society and its Institutions.
Replenish Culture Boxes
Welcome to your “Replenish Culture” box. This box has been put together to provide you with some essentials for your beautiful hair and skin.
We want those looking after children to feel confident and supported when it comes to our black children’s hair and skin. We also want our children to have a sense of pride in themselves and in turn develop their confidence, self esteem and identity.
Workshops
At Replenish Culture, we are really passionate about the need for systems to increase their capability when it comes to discussing race and taking meaningful action. Our workshops/ training courses seek to support organisations on their journey towards Anti, racism. We have a focus on equality, identity and creating a sense of belonging for young people.