Young People's Organising and Campaigning Group (YPOC)

Whose voice did we hear?

YPOC Group are a care‑experienced, youth‑led group who use their own experiences to help make things better for other young people. YPOC spoke about their own experiences of stigma and also contacted other care‑experienced young people across Aberdeenshire, aged 12 to 24, to ask about their experiences too. All of these voices were brought together to help shape a stigma campaign.

Why were we asking about this?

Young people told us that stigma is something they experience because they are care‑experienced, and that it can affect how they are treated and how they feel about themselves. We wanted to understand what stigma looks like in young people’s everyday lives and how it impacts them. We also wanted to give young people the chance to say what needs to change so that others do not have the same experiences.

What did we hear?

Young people shared that stigma can make them feel judged, misunderstood and labelled by others. They talked about times when people made assumptions about them without knowing them as individuals. Young people said they want to be seen for who they are, not defined by their care experience, and they want adults and services and other young people to listen, show understanding and use respectful language.

What did we do with the voices we heard?

The experiences and messages shared by young people were used to create a stigma campaign led by YPOC. Young people decided what the key messages should be and how they wanted these to be shared. They worked alongside Adam Usmani from Youth Music Initiative to create a unique song and video called Misunderstood. The campaign was used to raise awareness, challenge negative attitudes and help others better understand the impact of stigma on care‑experienced young people. The campaign has been shared across Aberdeenshire Council, including social work, education and early years services, as well as with multi‑agency partners. YPOC have also been invited to share the campaign at workshops at a national level. As part of the campaign, they have collected pledges from others to help challenge stigma and make positive changes for care‑experienced young people.

https://youtu.be/_EAvcRYhVJI

For more information about this work, contact:

Laura Stewart, Senior Practitioner, Children’s Rights Team

laura.stewart4@aberdeenshire.gov.uk