{"id":178,"date":"2011-08-05T09:52:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T09:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/leavingcare\/?p=178"},"modified":"2011-08-05T13:58:13","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T13:58:13","slug":"ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/leavingcare\/2011\/08\/05\/ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

So – as promised following the last post<\/a> – here is a round up of the ideas we came up with. In no particular order…<\/p>\n

Computers for Care Leavers<\/h1>\n

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This idea arose out of other ideas which were hinged apon young people having access to the internet. When discussing these ideas a common cry was – “But care leavers don’t usually have access to the internet, in residential homes or after they leave care”<\/em>. When this was explored further we identified that young people do tend to have access to the internet using their mobile phones (generally not smart phones), which they commonly use for social networking. Having a computer was seen as an opportunity to use the internet in different ways, for example looking up what they could do in the new area they moved too, for jobs, college courses, working on their CV or as a social networking tool to keep in contact with friends and family.<\/p>\n

So how do you connect care leavers with a computer? FreeShare<\/a> were presented as an option, where people give away a whole nature of different items including computers. I think the idea was to link up the people who provide resources to care leavers to FreeShare, who in turn could connect freec omputers with those who need one. There is also an organisation in the UK dedicated to getting people online<\/a> which could be partnered with to specifically support care leavers access the internet.<\/p>\n

Inevitably when it comes to technology and the internet people talk about care leavers privacy and safety online. However the young people immediately countered this perspective by saying they are online on their mobiles, why is this any different, and why should their access to the internet be any different from any other young person who has moved away from home?<\/p>\n

For more information about making the internet more accessible to young people in and leaving care please see:<\/p>\n