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Message ANNUALREPORTSUMMARY2024-25parents are currentlypart of The Village185115villagers welcomedin the last year3new local authoritiesreceiving focused support30-40families provided with 1:1 support each week100% of parents say they know there isalways someone there if they need support. Over half of parents say they have madenew friends through The Village. 87.5% of parents say they were connectedwith new supports or opportunities.over£17Ksaved by or awarded to parents through helpaccessing entitlements80% of parents agree that The Village is animportant part of their social network75% of parents say that The Village haspositively impacted their mental health75% of parents report feeling moreconfident in their parentingHaving the support itselfhad a massive impact onme in both my confidenceas a person and a parent. Iam now finally in a placewhere I feel capable ofalmost anything and TheVillage has been a hugepart of that journey.Results from a May 2025 survey of 24 parents

Who makes up the village?The Village is open to all parents who identify with the term “care-experienced,” or for birth parents, have beenimpacted by the care system. Parents are never asked to provide proof of care-experience. The community isaimed at parents who have a child under 5, although many will also have older children. Work with Birth Parents in Aberdeenshire& North LanarkshireThe Care-Experienced Community in RenfrewshireIn addition to building our care-experienced community inAberdeenshire and North Lanarkshire, we have recentlyfurther expanded our support to include parents who nolonger have their children in their care. This encompassesthose whose children are going through child protectionprocesses, whose children have been permanently removed,and post-adoption support. This has proved to be a largelyunmet need not only in these local authorities, but nationally.While a portion of birth parents will be care-experiencedthemselves, it is not required to be supported by The Village,as we recognise that the care system impacts both thechildren brought into care and the families they have beenremoved from. In supporting birth parents to make positivechanges for themselves, we hope to ultimately help reducethe subsequent number of children who enter the caresystem. While The Village’s focused work with birth parents isstill fairly new, we have already seen positive outcomes forthis group. Several parents have been assisted by teammembers to make progress on increasing their visitation timeor regaining permanency of their children. The Village community in Renfrewshire hasbeen a great example of what is possible whenwe focus our work in a local area and ensurewe are meeting the unique needs of care-experienced parents who live there. Sincelaunching in Renfrewshire in August 2024, wehave seen significant growth in the area. Priorto this, Renfrewshire villagers made up 2% ofThe Village. Renfrewshire now accounts for15% of all villagers. Regular in-person meetupsand the local WhatsApp group have beenintegral to Renfrewshire villagers formingstrong connections. Pregnant/Newborn 1 Year2-3 Years 4-5 Years0 20 40 60 80 100Age of Villager's Children (under 5) (%)1 2 3+0 20 40 60 80 100Number of Children (%)Under 18 18-25 26+0 20 40 60 80 100Age of Villagers (%)Female Male0 20 40 60 80 100Gender (%)18local authoritiesrepresentedMap of villager distribution across Scotland Light = <5% Medium = 5-15% Dark = >15%The majority of villagers are womenwith a median age of 24. Mostparents (62%) have been in TheVillage for less than a year, whileabout 30% have been part of thecommunity for up to 1.5 years.Approximately half of villagers self-identify as having a disability.Further, more than half haveparenting support from a partner. 23% of villagers, care-experienced and birth parents included, have at least onechild who is not in their care.

The Village’s ImpactTeam Member SupportEvery parent in The Village has access to informal one-to-one support from one of our knowledgeable andcompassionate team members. Team members are available to answer questions, give advice, and provideemotional support. Engagement with team members is parent-led, so parents decide what kind of support theywould like. Support from team members is completely confidential - no records are kept or shared, unless thereis a serious welfare concern. Team members further work to facilitate relationships between parents, arrangingmeetups and events or leading sessions with a particular focus, such as baby massage, sensory sessions, or BookBug sessions.Psychological / emotional supportFinancial support /entitlementsParenting advicePhysical self-careRelationshipsAdvocacyYear 0-1HousingPregnancyChildren withASNSupport withcontacts (childrenno longer inparent’s care)Percentage of Total Support GivenWeekly Support Themes 2025The top additional support themesreported by team members betweenAugust 2024 - May 2025 include:1) Completing forms andapplications (top subtheme:benefits and entitlements)2) Making and attendingappointments or support groups(top subtheme: mental health)3) Advocacy (top subtheme:signposting to advocacy support)4) Sourcing necessary items (topsubtheme: items for child)5) Employability (top subtheme:accessing courses or trainingJust a big thank you for having TheVillage to be a part of. Before I evenfell pregnant I was always worriedabout being lonely when I become amum because I don’t have familyand didn’t have any friends. Butwhen I had my son and found outabout The Village, I feel nowincluded in the community and feelthere is support out there if needed.I know without it my first year wouldhave been a whole lot different.Some powerful examples from over the last year of how The Village hasbeen there for parents when they needed it most and contributed toparents making positive changes in their lives include:A team member used their connections to arrange and collectdonations to fill a parent’s new flat with over £500 worth of whitegoods.A parent had their baby removed from the child protection register,with one of the protective factors in the report being the parent’ssupport from The Village.A parent was able to access funds to stay in a hotel near the hospitalwhere their baby was in the ICU. Several parents were connected with opportunities for CV-buildingactivities, including funding for training and volunteer placementsParents consistently tell us how beneficial The Village has been andcontinues to be on various aspects of their emotional, social, and physicalwellbeing, in addition to helping them to parent with more ease andconfidence. Further, parents frequently express how lifechanging it can be toknow someone is always at the other end of the phone if they have aquestion, need reassurance, or help accessing instrumental supports thatmake the everyday demands of parenting more manageable. In December 2024, 23 parents (approximately 60% of those engaging weekly)completed a survey consisting of wellbeing measures (emotional, social, andphysical wellbeing, and parenting confidence) and were asked to reflect onhow these changed over the previous six months. Parents were then asked torate to what extent The Village had contributed to any of these changes. Key findings from this survey include:-over half of parents surveyed saidtheir social wellbeing and parentingconfidence improved and attributedthis change to The Village-parents ranked measures of theirparenting confidence the highest, withthe majority of scores between 26-30out of 30-nearly half (43.48%) reported thattheir emotional wellbeing hadimproved and that this was because ofThe Village

News & EventsPlease see our website for the full report: whynottrust.org Care-Experienced Parents’ CharterPublicationsParliamentary EventSTV Children’s Appeal PartnershipNew OfferingsA peer-reviewed research article onThe Village in the Scottish Journal ofResidential Childcare. This is athematic analysis based oninterviews with villagers, highlightingthe key benefits expressed.A scoping review on the importanceof friendships for young peopleleaving care which was presented atthe Scottish Throughcare andAftercare (STAF) conference inNovember 2024.Additional short articles for ourwebsite that bring togetherknowledge to comment on broader,relevant themes, such as howcommunities can support us throughtimes of hardship. Last October we held a reception at The ScottishParliament where we welcomed supporters andcolleagues to share our wider learning, celebrate ourimpact and successes, and look at future plans. Theevent was sponsored by Fulton MacGregor MSP, andwe were further delighted to welcome Sue WebberMSP, Neil Bibby MSP, and Bill Kidd MSP.Presentations were done by Cathy Jamieson (CareVisions), Diane Webb (Steering Group Member), andour Executive Director Moira Greentree. We alsoshared copies of our 2024 annual report, SJRCCpublication, and friendship scoping review protocol.This was an invaluable opportunity to spread theword about what The Village does, garner moresupport for our work, and advocate for improvedsupport for care-experienced parents nationally. The Care-Experienced Parents’ Charter has now been completedand is ready to be implemented and tested in local authorities. TheCare-Experienced Parents’ Charter is a practice guidancedocument for how work with care-experienced parents should becarried out at the local authority and individual professional level.This guide was developed through multiple consultations between2023-2024 with care-experienced parents and the professionalswho work with them. We are delighted to share that we have been chosen as an organisation to be supported by the STV Children’sAppeal. They will be supporting us over the next five years with significant funding that will support our core costs,allowing us to keep costs low for local authorities and others who want a specific geographical presence. We willfurther be afforded opportunities to spread awareness of The Village through the media and comment on some ofthe broader societal themes we hope to address. Health Visitor Online Sessions: This year we started holding weeklyonline sessions with a health visitor where parents can drop-in andask questions regarding their own or their child’s health. Why Not Wellbeing: We started creating original wellbeingresources and holding group drop-in sessions on a variety ofthemes, including stress and anxiety, relationships andcommunication, self-esteem, and self-care. WhatsApp Groups: Over the last year, the number of parentsengaging in Village WhatsApp groups has greatly increased. Theseare set up locally and allow for deeper relationships betweenparents in the same area. Currently nearly half of parents are in aWhatsApp group.