ABOUT US
The Who Cares? Trust has been a national charity since April 1992 when it was established to address the needs of the 60,000 young people in public care in the UK.
The Trust was founded by the late Tory Laughland on the success of Who Cares? magazine, the only teenage magazine for young people in public care, which has been a UK-wide publication since 1987. Published quarterly, it is now purchased by nearly all local authorities in the UK and reaches approximately 28,000 readers aged 13+ in their care. We also publish KLiC! (Kids Living in Care), a companion publication for the 8-12 age group.
The Trust’s expansion was motivated by a clear desire to increase its influence and impact. Since the magazine had acted as a vehicle for the views and feelings of looked after young people (as well as offering support and information), it was envisaged that undertaking other projects and initiatives would also extend the opportunities for their voices to be heard.
In 1995, the Trust revised its strategy and principles to consolidate and extend the influence and networks achieved by the production and distribution of the magazine; to reach and influence additional target audiences and to ensure that additional work undertaken by the Trust did not simply duplicate or replicate that of others in the same sector.
Since that time, our aim has been to improve the day to day lives of all children and young people who experience public care, many of whom leave care too young and face the prospect of homelessness, unemployment, early pregnancy and prison. Far too many leave care with no educational qualifications to give them a start in life.
We help them to develop their potential through encouraging access to the same opportunities as their peers in settled families. We are also committed to reducing the discrimination young people tell us they feel as a result of their care experience.
Our work and expertise has fed into and informed the major changes in policy and legislation affecting children in care that have taken place since 1997.
The Trust has spent 16 years investigating and learning to understand the health, education and (preparation for) employment needs of ‘looked after’ young people and in unpicking the ways in which the care system can compound their disadvantage.
In addition to providing multi-media materials for children and young people, we create programmes in partnership with local authorities in health, education, preparation for employment, disability and lifeskills.
Our vision
We want children in care to:
- Be better supported by family and friends, so that fewer children need to come into care
- Experience improved quality of care through better services, shaped with their greater involvement
- Have a safe and positive experience of care, be healthy and have a sense of well-being
- Be better informed on their life in care, entitlements and what to expect
- Feel encouraged to take up opportunities, to achieve and attain to the best of their ability at school and in other activities
- Be helped to return home successfully, if that is in their care plan
- Be helped to learn the skills to become employable and supported towards a career of choice and a positive life beyond care, through education and training
- Be encouraged and enabled to communicate directly, in greater numbers, with The Who Cares? Trust via our proactive communication initiatives, both on and offline, so as to reduce their isolation in care and enhance our understanding of how best we can help them.
Our mission
The legal objects of the charity (updated in 2000) are:
To promote the care, upbringing and establishment in life of children and young people who are or who have been looked after or assisted by local authorities or other public or charitable bodies charged with the care and upbringing of children, or who are or who have been in the care of foster or adoptive parents, and in particular (but without limitation) by:
- Providing education, training and advice to such children and young people and to their carers
- Conducting and promoting research as to the most effective means of providing care, making available the useful results
- Relieving poverty, sickness, hardship and distress and preserving and protecting the health of such children and young people.
Our values
- All aspects of our work are informed by those with experience of the public care system.
- The Trust respects the rights and needs of children who are looked after by the state and will challenge negative attitudes towards them.
- The Trust believes that an individual’s uniqueness and personal identity should be respected and nurtured.
- All the Trust’s activities respect and take account of differences in race, culture, nationality, religion, language, gender, sexual orientation and age.
- The Trust recognises the particular rights and needs of disabled children and adults and works to ensure that these are integral to our activities.
- The Trust respects the privacy of every child with whom it comes in contact and will seek a child’s permission before undertaking action on her/his behalf. In exceptional circumstances where a child is deemed to be in personal danger or to be a danger to another person, confidentiality may need to be broken. The child will be informed of our intended action; however in exceptional circumstances the action may already have been taken before the child can be informed.
- The Trust works in partnership wherever that approach will benefit children in care, for example with local authorities and with other charities.
The WHO CARES? Trust is a Registered Charity (No. 1010518).
A Company limited by guarantee. Registered in London (No. 2700693).
VAT Reg. No. 577 8530 91