Care leavers to write anthology

SOPHIE WILLAN

AWARD-winning Manchester comedienne Sophie Willan is standing up for a cause close to her heart.

Sophie - resident comic on the "Up Late With Rylan" show on Channel 5 - spent her teens in care and is now using her experiences as part of a charitable programme in Greater Manchester.

The stand-up has raised a huge amount of funding to create a children's book project called "Stories of Care" for the Care Leavers and Children In Care initiative.

Putting care leavers in the driving seat, Sophie will facilitate a 10-week writing and illustration programme for 20 participants across the region.

Based on their own experiences in and out of the care system, participants will create a short story or a series of illustrations with fictional characters to be part of a new children's anthology.

Sophie and her team will work with a published children's author and an acclaimed illustrator to develop the work before publication.

This will culminate in a published anthology of short stories for seven to-11 year olds that will be launched at the 2017 Manchester Children's Book Festival.

This project presents a rare opportunity for a group of youngsters whose statistics make for distressing reading.

Around 67 per cent of Greater Manchester children in care have an identifiable mental health problem.

And nearly a third have a statement of special educational needs, compared with 2.5 per cent of children generally.

Seventy per cent leave care with no qualifications, more than 14 per cent of women leaving care are pregnant or have had a child and care leavers are 60 times more likely to be homeless.

Nearly 40 per cent of male prisoners under 21 have been in care. For more information about the project, for which Sophie is director, go to www.storiesofcare.co.uk.