YOUNG people growing up in care will be helped to bend the ear of government agencies under a £2.3 million lottery-backed scheme.
So called 'champions boards' are to be set up across Scotland, using the cash to help young people in care influence decisions affecting them.
The Life Changes Trust said the grant would revolutionise the way decisions are taken about young people.
Already established in Dundee, the boards ensure children and young people in care have the skills and confidence to take their views direct to senior council leaders. Meetings are often held away from offices, in youth settings or over meals, rather than formally.
Dundee City Council's former chief executive David Dorward helped pioneer the approach, which is now being carried forward by his replacement David Martin, the former chief executive of Renfrewshire Council - which is also enthusiastic about champions boards.
The Life Changes Trust said bringing together young people who have experience of care with decision makers would help transform their lives for the better.
Heather Coady, director of the Trust's Care Experienced Young People Programme, said: "Care experienced young people have enormous potential to shape their lives and those of their peers for the better. Champions boards provide a distinctive and powerful way of harnessing this potential."
Mr Martin added: "My experience of the champions board in Dundee has been hugely positive, particularly in the commitment, knowledge and skills of the care experienced children and young people who form the backbone of the approach in our city."
Brian Houston, director of operations at advocacy charity Who Cares? Scotland, welcomed the approach and its emphasis on building relationships.
"You are putting some of the most vulnerable young people who haven't been listened to alongside some of the most powerful people, who are used to voicing their opinions," he said.
"But boards look different from any other meetings you might see. They are held in young people's space or over food and they are a really effective vehicle to get important messages to key decision makers."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article