Personal care for black and mixed children and young people
Personal care for black and mixed children and young people
- “I was too embarrassed to go out…”
- “They didn’t know what to do with my hair, so they kept cutting it short. I felt like a boy…”:
- “My social worker never understood that I needed money for hair products – I used to argue with them every month and they just kept telling me to use my pocket money. That’s just not fair.”
– Quotes from various black and mixed children and young people
The specific hair, skin and other personal care needs of Black children and young people are not routinely identified, understood or addressed by multi-agency professionals. The negative impact of this on the Black child’s well-being, self-esteem and sense of cultural belonging has been well-documented over many years.
The project aims to create a whole system change in response to the personal care needs of black and mixed children and young people. It will produce a range of resources to support professionals as well as carers and adopters, to understand the care needs of black and mixed children and young people. IT will also work to influence processes and policy frameworks, so that knowledge of the subject is adequately represented.
At SEEN, we pride ourselves on the work we do, and are striving to achieve our aims of creating a society where children and young people of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage have equitable futures – working with our partners to deliver these solutions. If you are interested in working with us on this, please get in touch below.