Mission Statement and Values

Supporting young people in care and in need to find their voice, to be healthy, to learn, develop and achieve and to gain an independent and positive place in society.

Shaftesbury Young People is a charity which is absolutely committed to improving the lives of children and young people in care and in need.
We believe that each child is a unique and precious individual. We aim to give young people the chance to experience nurturing relationships and to develop their talents and aspirations for the future.

The charity is grounded in the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and determined to improve the participation of children and young people in the decisions that affect their lives. Young people know better than anyone else what it’s like to be them and if you give them the chance they will demonstrate that they have utterly practical ideas about the way that services can be improved.

We work with partners in local authorities, health, education, other voluntary organisations and the private sector to raise standards and pursue innovation.

It is essential that we improve outcomes for looked after children and children in need, keeping them safe, improving their health, helping them achieve better results in education, enabling them to make a positive contribution and ensuring economic and social well-being. Everyday Shaftesbury measures its own actions by comparing them to ‘whether this would be good enough for my own child?’