“One size does not fit all”: Equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of what we do
Firstly, a big thank you to the CoramBAAF team and all of those who contributed to making this year’s conference such an excellent day. A day which gave us not only an opportunity to learn and to network, but also to challenge ourselves and question how we can improve our practice and services to meet the diverse needs of our care experienced population.
Throughout the day we heard the consistent message that although our children and young people can share connections through their experiences of trauma, “one size does not fit all”. We focused on the need to take active consideration of intersectionality, both our own and those that we are working with.
We heard of the importance of connections, consistent relationships, open communication and honesty in building trust and to “really see” our young people. To achieve this, we need to challenge our professional aspiration to be non-judgemental and acknowledge our own assumptions, life experiences and potential bias in our aim for integrity, authenticity in conversations and practice.
Implementing recommendations
We learnt about great examples of innovative, evidence-based practice that were informed or co-produced with care-experienced people. These provided us with ideas to take away to adapt in our own areas or to inform commissioning of new services. Many of the examples included data and evaluation which are essential to not only evidence improvements and outcomes in service planning, but to also convince others that services are good value for money. Not all health and social work service improvements require financial investment however, and one of the key actions that I will be taking away is, the need to benchmark the services in my local area against the key recommendations in CoramVoice’s report, “Disability, disparity and demand” (2024) and the UCL, CoramBAAF and UK Trauma Council recommendations in “Increasing access to evidence-informed mental health service provision for children in care in England” (2025).
Acknowledging intersectionality
The term intersectionality was used frequently throughout the day and in the conference pack. Intersectionality refers to ‘The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage' (Oxford English Dictionary). Our keynote speaker, Dr Arlene Weekes, and care experienced panel members used the term several times, highlighting that our children and young people are first and foremost children, young people and young adults , but may have many, complex identities that contribute to who they are. This may include their pre and during care experiences, sex, gender, cultural heritage, neurodiversity, disability status, health and education to name a few. Delegates were encouraged to be “professionally curious” in a sensitive manner and not to be afraid to find out more about our young people. Although, this may be part of our usual practice, we must also be mindful of how often we hear our young people telling us that they do not want to repeat their story.
Striving for better
Networking is always a key part of the day. Many of us have been committed to working in this field for numerous years and it is always great to see and hear the continued passion amongst us to keep striving for better. This year it was good to not only see familiar faces but also meet new ones and to share ideas and learn from each other. There were many lively debates including whether care-experience should be a protected characteristic, a hot topic nationally amongst prominent members of our care experienced adult population. It was interesting to hear the views of our panel as they have been instrumental in pushing for this to happen.
For me personally the panel was the highlight of my day. It was an absolute privilege to meet and work with our four panellists and to hear their very honest accounts of their lives and their interactions and experiences of health professionals. One of the most resonant moments was when Susan Lake (Postgraduate student in International Relations, Care Leaver and Volunteer with Coram Voice) told us how she was, “thrilled to have an hour talking about me and my health” when asked about her experience of health assessments, and how she valued being able to talk about all her health issues in one appointment as she usually had to go to lots of different places to talk about each one separately.
Both Susan and Ikra Choudry (Drive Forward Forum member) gave very different accounts of their memories of health assessments, but each described the importance of relationships. Ikra’s honest and insightful reflection into her being seen as a “bored teenager” highlighted the essence of trauma aware care and the importance of looking beyond behaviour. I am sure it resonated with us all when Ikra recounted after “eight years of being bored with being asked the same questions”, she felt really “sad” when she didn’t see “her nurse” for her last health assessment. Reassuring words for all nurses completing annual health reviews!
Both Salma Kerry Mohammed (Drive Forward Forum member) and Anthony Lynch (Independent) reiterated the importance and potential complexity of intersectionality and the necessity of being heard and recognised for who they are. All four of these impressive young people have achieved so much already, and are great advocates for our current and future care experienced community.
In preparation for the panel, our panellists quizzed me about why I do what I do, and what drives me in my work. I could honestly tell them that one of the best parts is to meet inspirational people such as themselves who epitomise the need for us all to be aspirational in our services. I am sure that everyone in the room would agree that these four young people provided us with a strong motivation to reflect, learn and improve our practice.
It was interesting that when asked what could be improved, they all replied more funding. At this time of financial and job insecurity, many of us feel challenged. However, the positivity from the day and listening to these young adults has provided the inspiration that we all need to keep striving for better for our care experienced population in all that we do.
Thank you and hope to see you at the 2026 conference!
Cathy Jermey, Designated Nurse and Improvement Lead for Children in care and Care Leavers.
Related resources
Putting Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at the heart of health services for children in care (conference pack).