Care Experienced Week 2024
This year’s Care Experienced Week is taking place from 19th-26th October.
Throughout this week, we’re coming together to celebrate the Care Experienced Community and provide opportunities for our members to connect with Who Cares? Scotland, each other and their supporters.
The theme of this year’s Care Experienced Week is ‘Belonging and Connection’ which perfectly embodies what this celebratory week is all about.
Here’s how you can get involved…
Time to Shine 2024
Our annual Time to Shine Festival is an opportunity for our members and their families to come together to have fun and celebrate their care experience.
Love Rally Pre-Party & 2024 AGM
Members, come along to our AGM to meet our Board, enjoy a bacon roll and hear about what we’ve achieved over the last year, then make a banner and practice your chants before joining us on the Love Rally.
The Love Rally 2024
A new starting point for this year’s Love Rally! March with us from Carrick Street by the Broomielaw onto George Square to show your commitment to achieving a lifetime of love for Care Experienced people across Scotland. Everyone is welcome!
The History of Care Experienced Week
The first Care Experienced Week was held in October 2018. It was launched and initially celebrated by Who Cares? Scotland but is now celebrated globally. Care Experienced Week was inspired by National Care Leavers’ Week, however, our members told us that although they may leave care, they never leave their care experience behind and that they identify more as ‘Care Experienced’, plus this allowed us to celebrate every stage of care experience, including those still in official care settings. We celebrated with a variety of different national events, find out more about them below.
Our Annual Events
Take a look at the events we host every year to celebrate Care Experienced Week!
Time to Shine festival
This event is all about having fun! It’s a chance for Care Experienced people and their guests to come together and have a big party, dance, play games, enjoy good food and each other’s company. Each year has a different theme and we highly encourage dressing up!
AGM/Love Rally Pre-party
As Scotland’s only Care Experienced membership organisation, it’s important to us that our members know what’s going on. Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a chance for you to find out what Who Cares? Scotland has achieved the previous year and what we’ve got planned for the next.
The AGM is then followed by the Love Rally Pre-Party where there is time to catch up with other members, listen to music and make banners for the Love Rally.
the Love Rally
The Love Rally is a rallying cry that there should be love in the care system for all Care Experienced people.
Each year hundreds of people march through the streets of Glasgow, calling out for love for the Care Experienced community, before finishing in George Square to listen to Care Experienced speakers, campaigners and performers.