Care Day
What is CARE DAY?
CARE DAY is the world’s biggest celebration of children and young people with care experience. This group includes children and young people who are or were cared for by foster carers, or other family members, and those who live in children’s homes. They deserve to be celebrated, on CARE DAY, and every day.
CARE DAY takes place on the third Friday of February, every year. |
CARE DAY took place on Friday 19 February, on the theme Uniting the care experienced community:
Uniting the care experienced community
Care Day 21 Events & Activities
Wednesday 17 February
‘I already had my own struggles. So when the whole world was struggling, it didn’t really help.’
Join Alicia Toal (Chief Executive of VOYPIC), Prof. Berni Kelly (Queen’s University, Belfast) and a panel of young care leavers, to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown restrictions on young people leaving care.
This virtual roundtable will discuss the findings of the recently published report on ‘The Voices of Young People Leaving Care During Covid-19’, on research carried out by Queen’s University and VOYPIC. The report can be downloaded from the VOYPIC website.
Booking essential. Click the image on the left to book your place.
Friday 19 February
Care Experienced Q&A with Children and Young People’s Commissioners / Ombudsman from Northern Ireland, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Join a panel of care experienced young people from across the 5 Nations 1 Voice alliance, as they put their questions to Koulla Yiasouma, NI Commissioner for Children and Young People, and her counterparts across the UK and Ireland.
Hosted in partnership with our colleagues in Become, EPIC, Who Cares? Scotland and Voices from Care Cyrmu.
Open to all young people with lived experience of care and the adults that support them. Booking essential. Click the image to book.
Roll Up, Roll Up
Join the VOYPIC Team and our friends at Belfast Community Circus for an extra-special VOYPIC Care Day Circus Spectacular!
Our live and interactive circus workshop will give you all the tips and tricks you need, so you too can celebrate with the circus!
Open to young people with lived experience of care. Booking essential. Click the image to book online, or call Nicola (07854 278936) for all the details.
Tami has been in care since she was 11 months old.
Over the years, she’s had good times, and bad times.
Some things have been good, some things have been bad.
Tami’s here to remind you, ‘You are not alone, and I am really proud of you.’
Join young care experienced poet, Tami, as she uses her word, her verse, her voice, to share her story of life in care.
Open to everyone. Premiering at 2.30pm on the VOYPIC YouTube Channel.
We’re starting a beat, and we need your help to send it all round Northern Ireland, and beyond.
Grab a drum (or a pot, a pan, a bucket, a basin, a bowl or anything you can tap out a beat on) and join Damien and the young people from the VOYPIC Participation Forum for the great big VOYPIC Care Day Drum Connection.
We’ll be going LIVE on YouTube at 3pm.
Make sure you take a photo or a video of your drumming, post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, tagging VOYPIC and using #CareDay21!
We’ll be sharing the premier performance of the VOYPIC Virtual Choir exclusively on our YouTube channel, and then across our social media:
Under the musical direction of Maurice Kelly, Musical Director of Allegri Choir, and led by young people from the VOYPIC Western area Participation Forum, the choir brings together young people with lived experience of care across Northern Ireland, for a special Care Day 21 performance of ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’.
We’re teaming up with our friends in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to host a virtual Care Day 21 Link-Up.
Hosted on Zoom, the Link-Up is a chilled place to game, chat and vibe with other young people in care and care leavers from across the UK and Ireland.
The event is open to any young person, up to 25 years old, with lived experience of care. Booking is essential, as places are limited.
To book your place, talk to your VOYPIC Youth Rights Worker or email info@voypic.org for all the info.
We’re joining our friends in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales for a special Care Day 21 Movie Night.
Hosted by our friends at EPIC, log in and join us for a Netflix Watch Party screening of ‘Instant Family‘.
The event is open to any young person, 13-25 years old, with lived experience of care. Booking is essential, as places are limited.
To book your place, talk to your VOYPIC Youth Rights Worker, email info@voypic.org or contact Suzanne at EPIC on suzanneobrien@epiconline.ie.
To join in you will need access to a laptop and a Netflix account. If you don’t have these but want to take part, talk to your VOYPIC Youth Rights Worker or email us on info@voypic.org and we can help.
Saturday 20 February
FizzWizzPop presents…”A Kind of Magic Show.”
Have you ever wondered where real magic comes from? Once you discover you have real magic within how are we supposed to use this gift? Join FizzWizzPop on this virtual adventure to discover what it means to use her magic for good.
This Interactive virtual performance is hosted by Mid Ulster District Council, in celebration of CARE DAY.
Open to young people with lived experience of care. Booking essential. Click the image to book online
Do you think your Bubble has what it takes to go up against Bubbles across Northern Ireland in a fast paced, quick witted, high energy night of games, speed, knowledge and skill?
Hosted by a VOYPIC young person over a Zoom session like you’ve never seen before, this games and challenge night is one not to be missed by your household!
After all, there’s a Just Eat voucher for the Bubble champions!
Open to children’s homes and households of young people with lived experience of care in Northern Ireland. Booking essential.
SORRY – THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL
Friday 26 February
Join our friends in the Belfast Turst and the Urban Community Chef to cook up a storm in the kitchen!
Learn how to make a Microwave Chocolate Cake in a Mug- which goes perfectly with some banana ice-cream. You can follow the recipe here, and don’t forget to chop up and freeze 4 bananas before the online class! To book your place, call 028 9504 0302.
Please note, this activity is hosted by Belfast HSCT. Please contact the number above for all information.
Sunday 28 February
Join our friends at the Belfast Trust as they welcome Magic Gareth for an afternoon of amazing tricks!
This event is delivered online. To book your place, call 028 9504 0302.
Please note, this activity is hosted by Belfast HSCT. Please contact the number above for all information.
Hands Up for Care Day 21
On Care Day, while we cannot be together, we want to pass on messages of support to the care experienced community.
To demonstrate that connection, across Northern Ireland and beyond, we would ask you to ‘put your hands up for Care Day’. This means writing #CareDay21 on the palm of your hand, along with your current location (eg. Belfast) and taking a photo of it. Then, share this photo on your social media on Care Day, using #CareDay21 and tagging VOYPIC. We are on:
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
This Care Day, we made a big announcement!
For almost 30 years, the voice of children and young people with lived experience of care has been at the core of VOYPIC.
Now, it’s our heart.
