The Right to Relationships Charter

The Why Not? Trust aims to enable all care experienced young people to continue trusting relationships with the people who have cared for them.

With the insight of the Why Not? community, we recognised what made these relationships meaningful and from this the Charter was born. 

It is our ambition that every organisation caring for and supporting children and young people adopt these principles and sign up to the charter.

The Right to Continued Caring Relationships

We will have access to a network of people, adults and young people, who we have developed trusting relationships with during our care experience, after we have moved on.

The Right to be Valued

We should be able to celebrate the bonds we have developed with carers and other young people, through gift giving and gestures of care, concern and affection.

The Right to be Believed in

When people believe in me, recognising my strengths, skills and talents I understand more about myself, what I can do and what I may need support with.

The Right to be Nurtured

The possibility of continued connections should be the basis of relationships in care services, with policies and procedures flexible enough to allow differences in relationships with strong connections being supported and encouraged.

The Right to Belong

We should be able to visit the places where we were cared for and the people who cared for us and supported to meet up with the young people who have shared our lives as part of a community.

The Right to our own Identity

Opportunities to understand and reflect on our stories through the connections to the people who know us and the places we’ve lived and supported to resolve any difficulties we experienced while we were in care.

The Right to Trust and be Trusted

We are able make our own decisions supported by the people who know us well and who will look after us. We must be able to take risks and make mistakes without being judged or rejected.

The Right to Hope

We are more than the difficulties we have lived through. Our ambitions must be nurtured and respected and we should be given opportunities to pursue these.

The Right to be Safe

The relationships we have formed with carers and other young people create safety for us because we can share concerns and get support.

The Right to be Remembered

Carers and services will look after the memories of those of us who have moved on from care, looking after things that remind us of our childhood and keep in touch with us as long as we want to keep in touch with them.