Gary, Des and Alison learned about the importance of the social and emotional meanings of food in a foster care household at the National Care Leavers Week 2015 Annual Lecture tonight. Dr. Andrea Warman, Panel Chair at Young People at Heart, gave numerous examples in her talk about the positive effect food and nutrition could have in the social care world. We are planning to have Andrea talk to our foster carer group on this subject in the New Year.
We also met Toni Gardner, a foster carer with 20 years experience, and Mattie Wilson, a care leaver who learned to cook while in foster care with Toni. Mattie is now a qualified chef and he shared his experience of being in care, his passion for cooking and he even brought a sample of his cooking to share with the audience.
We all left inspired by the talks. Thank you to Lisa Cherry who chaired the evening.