The Verbatim Formula: Creative Practice for Young People in Twenty-first Century UK Care

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Various indicators show that looked-after children need better support from care and education providers. National Audit Office statistics from 2014 show that 20% of young homeless people, 24% of the adult prison population, and 70% of sex workers have been in care. In 2013, only 6% of care leavers were in Higher Education compared to 30% of that age demographic nationally. In 2015, 33% of looked-after children had been 'placed' more than once in a year in a children's home or with a foster family, and 10% had three placements or more. Such instability exacerbates looked-after children's well-documented vulnerability to mental health problems and jeopardises the stability needed for their educational and life success. In spite of the statutory requirement of the 1989 Children's Act to hear children's voices, an over emphasis on procedures and paperwork blocks effective communication and hinders the trusting relationships that children need to project a positive future. THE VERBATIM FORMULA (TVF) will explore the potential of applied arts practice to provide vital interventions, providing life-changing support for young people, as well as opportunities for adults and institutions to make time, to listen, and to reflect on current practices. At a time when the care system is failing badly, and when universities are likely to have more responsibility for ensuring diverse participation following the White Paper for Higher Education (2016), TVF will give opportunities for adult professionals in both sectors to work together and to make changes that respond to young people's needs. Using Verbatim Theatre practices to support the articulation and confidence of young people's voices, the project positions children as creative evaluators of the services that are responsible for their care and wellbeing. Based at QMUL and People's Palace Projects (PPP), a core operational team has been formed from QMUL's Departments of Drama, Business and Management, and Admissions and Widening Participation. Further collaborators include young adults from the Greater London Authority's Peer Outreach Team, and young adult care leavers from across London. Together, this team has facilitated a series of workshops that have supported 40 looked after children (14-18 years) in the South East and across the UK. Building on this experience, core activities in TVF will include a series of creative residential workshops facilitated in partnership with four universities in London to offer practical support to young people in articulating and planning their careers and education. In addition, a Young Researcher (YR) will develop a Portable Testimony Service (PTS) with the support and mentorship of Battersea Arts Centre (BAC). At QMUL, the PTS will be used to perform recorded, anonymised testimonies from looked-after children, care leavers, and adult care professionals, at an event to launch the university's new contextualised admissions policy. The PTS will share the audio testimonies further, providing a performative tool that creates space for dialogue and discussion around supporting looked-after children better. The YR and project's young partners will help to build an Alumni Network that will become a capable community of young people and adults who support each other in their journeys through care and beyond.Through a series of events to be held with BAC including a Festival of Creative Evaluative Practice, the project will support the development of and reflection on innovatory artistic and participatory practice as a means of evaluation and provision of services in loval governments and the third sector. A website and E-book for practitioners will disseminate the research, as well as a series of academic articles, papers, presentations and performances at major academic and professional conferences. Work with Parliament's Youth Select Committee will explore the utility of particpatory verbatim practice to wider policy contexts.