‘Speaking for Ourselves’ – The Living History of the Care Experienced Movement is a groundbreaking three-year archival project announced today, led by a majority care experienced board working with Coram, to preserve and share the stories of the care-experienced movement, ensuring this important social history is recorded for future generations.
From the mid-1970s onwards, a movement created by those who grew up in care transformed the landscape of children’s social care, with their collective resilience contributing directly to the recognition of children’s rights in the UK. However, the history of the movement has gone largely unrecognised and was in danger of being lost forever.
The programme aims to close the gap in the history of social care in the UK. It will gather documents, artefacts, personal stories and historical context to show the movement’s profound impact. The goal is to provide people of all ages who have lived experience of the care system, scholars, professionals, policymakers and the movement’s wider audiences with a deeper understanding of its important campaigning legacy and the care system’s role in our society.
The ‘Speaking for Ourselves’ project will:
- Uncover the history of this inspiring movement and share it through interactive online content.
- Tell the story of a movement that is alive and continues today, showing how it has grown and changed over time.
- Collect, catalogue and make documents and artefacts related to the movement available online through digitisation.
- Create a library of interviews that capture the motivations, work and achievements of the people at the heart of the movement.
- Produce intergenerational content, including podcasts and social media, with care-experienced young people and adults to explore and share this important history.
- Develop engaging and educational resources, displays, activities and events for care-experienced adults and young people, professionals and the wider public.
- Preserve physical documents and artefacts so they can be protected and valued by future generations.
Brigid Robinson MBE, Managing Director of Coram Voice and Coram Group young people’s programmes, said: “I am thrilled that Coram has been awarded funding to deliver this vital programme. Amplifying the voices of those that are care experienced sits at the heart of what we do, and I am delighted to be working with our majority care experienced programme board to capture and share this vital history. As a care-experienced adult, I know how poorly the history of the care-experienced campaigning movement has been recorded—and how easily its achievements risk being forgotten. Speaking for Ourselves seeks to address this by recording and celebrating these achievements and this important social history.”
“The archive project will see Coram working in partnership with a majority care-experienced programme board alongside the wider care-experienced community, to make sure this important period of social history and lived experience is recorded and shared for future generations.”
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Speaking for Ourselves – The Living History of the Care Experienced Movement is a landmark initiative that will safeguard 50 years of overlooked social history, capturing the stories, experiences and contributions of people who have driven the care-experienced movement. From digitising important artefacts to collecting stories from across generations, this project will ensure these voices are heard and shared, so that this important story is better understood.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we’re investing in ambitious projects that save heritage and create lasting change for communities across the UK, so that everyone’s heritage is valued, cared for and sustained for everyone’s future.”
Dr Jim Goddard, Chair of the Board of Trustees, the Care Leavers Association, said: “The Speaking for Ourselves project addresses a huge gap in the social history of our country. Half a century of campaigning by children in care and care leavers, along with their allies, played a major role in expanding children’s rights in the UK and ensuring that children and young people today are able to get their voices heard and their rights protected in major arenas where adults have power over them. This project allows those who were involved over the past 50 years to tell their story and bring to life this area of social history for present and future generations.”
The project will create a digital archive collection of 16,000 items, record 50 oral histories and launch an interactive online platform. By amplifying underrepresented voices, it aims to increase understanding and help build a more inclusive future.
Virtual town hall event, Tuesday 29th September
If you are care experienced and would like to find out more about this exciting programme then please come along to our virtual town hall event online on the 29th September 2026 from 6.30 to 8.00pm. To attend just drop us an email at speakingforourselves@coram.org.uk and we will send you a link.
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About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That is why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities. Follow @HeritageFundUK on Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund