Care leavers in Lockdown: an interactive project and a podcast influencing government policy on the Care system

At Barnardo's, the pandemic arrived just as I set out to bring the experiences of young care leavers to a wider audience. Lockdown closed off the usual ways of gathering and sharing those stories, and the real risk was speaking about these young people instead of with them.

I led Care Leavers in Lockdown, an immersive 360-degree platform of interactive video and audio, co-designed with care-experienced young people. I set the creative and the story-gathering approach that kept them in the lead, shaping what was shared and how it was told, while they contributed remotely and their involvement stayed safeguarded and trauma-informed throughout.

The platform opened a direct route into care leavers' perspectives at a moment their voices were easily overlooked, and led to a co-designed national podcast with care leavers from our Plymouth services, as well as a partnership with the care-reform advocate Josh MacAlister on the care system.