I had a really interesting meeting at Spectra in Wolverhampton, which is the organisation that has been tasked by the Department of Education with delivering the Care Leaver Covenant.
The Covenant was established in 2018 to support young people leaving care services and offers mentoring, work placements, internships, apprenticeships and employment, as well as financial guidance. To date, 623 organisations have joined the network alongside 110 universities and colleges and over 100 local authorities and charities, and over 8,500 care leavers have accessed these networks and over 2,000 young people have accessed employment and training.
I was inspired to hear from the founder and managing director Matthew, alongside Rosie (Participation and Engagement Manager ) and Becci (Senior Engagement Consultant ) about the about the work that has been undertaken in the West Midlands to work with WM Police to improve the engagement with Care leavers.