THE head of a body set up to record the experiences of people who grew up in Scotland's care system has pledged to "keep going until someone tells us to stop", as she prepares to launch a new push to promote the service.

From Monday, the campaign Shine a Light on Care will urge people who had experience of care in childhood to come forward and tell their stories.

The landscape has become cluttered since the setting up in 2014 of the National Confidential Forum – which provides a way for people to share their stories, good or bad, of care anonymously and have them acknowledged and recorded.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is exploring issues of abuse suffered by those in the care of the state, while the independent Care Review set up by Nicola Sturgeon is taking a root-and-branch look at the current system.

Dr Rachel Happer, head of the NCF said there was still space for the forum, and it has provided something different for the 137 people have so far come forward to have their stories.

"The landscape has changed significantly since the forum came into being," she said. "But we are responding to people's needs.

"There is clearly crossover, but we are doing something qualitatively different to what is being gathered in other places. Some people haven't spoken to anyone for 35 years or more about this.

"It is hard for people to come forward to something like this. Many people people tell us that just coming here and feeling believed is enough for them. Others will use us as a means to go on to talk about it in another setting."

The approach of the NCF is "embedded" in people's personal experience off care, rather than focusing on the institution or the crime, if there has been abuse, she said.

The forum's job is to produce a national record of the experiences of people in care, and a report drawing out the "themes and patterns" of evidence so far will be published by the end of March next year, she added.

But, like the child abuse inquiry, which recently sought an extension from deputy first minister John Swinney, the Forum's work is likely to go on beyond that.

"We are currently funded to March 2019, but we will go on until someone tells us to stop," Dr Happer said.

The new campaign, which will feature advertising in print and TV, radio, outdoor and digital advertising and social media, has been designed with a panel of care-experienced people to reach those who might not otherwise know about the forum's work. The NCF has also put its message on everything from bus tickets to pharmacy bags. The forum's website has been made simpler and materials have been simplified to reach those who may not have a high level of literacy.

"We want to reach as wide a range of people as possible. The record we are working on is important, this is something that happened in our country, while children were under Scotland's care," Dr Happer says. "It needs to be publicly acknowledged.

Until April this year, people who came forward were not allowed a copy of their testimony but that has changed she adds. "People told us they wanted a copy, and that felt important, for a group of people whose records have so often been destroyed, distorted or redacted."

Helen Holland, co founder of In Care Abuse Survivors Scotland (Incas) welcomed the new campaign.

"The forum gives survivors the opportunity to speak to somebody who can take what they are saying in a peaceful setting and give feedback to the Government. Not everyone will want to give evidence to the [child abuse] inquiry," she said. "The most important thing is that their voices are heard."

"These things are still happening. It is still happening now in foster care. The clock can't be turned back for those who have already been abused. But survivors speaking out about what happened to them could make a massive difference for the future. Some come along and talk about something nobody else has talked about.

"People know they can come to the forum and it won't be an adversarial setting, while it will be a stepping stone to the inquiry for some, for others it will be enough," she said.