How Five Rivers is Celebrating Care Day 2023!

Friday, 17 February, is Care Day – the world’s biggest celebration of children and young people with care experience!

This is always a big date in the Five Rivers diary and one we plan for months in advance. Each year, we discuss with our children how they would like to mark this occasion and if there are any messages they want to share with the wider world about being care experienced.

This year, the children have chosen the theme of ‘Don’t Forget Us’, aimed at their communities and the professionals who they come into contact with.

Our children want to be heard and not stereotyped or dismissed. We can all do more to help children in care achieve more, and this year’s Care Day activities aim to educate on how best we can do that by learning more about what it’s like growing up in care.

One way we’re spreading this message is through our national Participation programme’s innovative and creative work, which is funded by Five Rivers’ social enterprise reinvestment. Our Participation programme aims to give our children opportunities to express themselves and have their voices heard.

Our Participation champions have helped our children across the country produce a film based on this year’s theme of ‘Don’t Forget Us’. The film was created using puppet theatre and tells the story of Sam, a child in care that wants to have their voice heard.

You can watch the video here:

In January, February and March, we have organised for the film to be projected onto buildings for passers-by to see and to help spread the message, help get our children’s voices heard and mark Care Day. Locations include Totnes, Durham, Liverpool, Plymouth, Exeter, Salisbury, Bristol and London.

You can watch the video of our projections here:

In the lead-up to Care Day, a workshop was held in Dorset with our children learning how to master the art of graffiti whilst also raising awareness of children’s rights. The children used the words ‘equality, respect and dignity’ in their artwork, these are the three core principles of the United Nations Children’s Rights Convention. Later in the evening, their artwork and the ‘Don’t Forget Us’ video were projected onto a local building.

To learn more about Care Day, visit our charity partner, Become’s website, who has been leading Care Day in England since the event first began in 2015: https://becomecharity.org.uk/become-the-movement/our-campaigns/care-day/