It has been an exciting season of celebration for TACT Connect this summer as our exclusive membership scheme has been shortlisted for three prestigious awards!

The Children & Young People Now Awards 2024 has shortlisted Connect in two categories – The Children in Care Award and The Leaving Care Award.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 has shortlisted Connect in the brand-new category of Technology Enabled Lives & Innovation in Practice Award.

As the anticipation builds for the announcement of the winners, we wanted to shine a light on why the Connect community is so deserving of these accolades and what has driven people to champion Connect through their nominations.

Community & collaboration

Connect is a community that has been built for – and with – our TACT care-experienced young people and adults. Free to join from the age of 15, it aims to be alongside members throughout the journey into adulthood and beyond.

It has seen incredible growth over the last year with more than 50 new members being welcomed into the community, bringing the total current membership to over 205.

The number of members contributing to the community, and the many ways that being a part of this co-produced offering has enriched their lives, is truly special.

Community highlights in the last month alone include:

• A sell-out weekend Get-Away to Scotland in November
• Four members applying for roles to work in Connect and TACT
• One member being supported financially to accept a place at university through our education service (combined with support from the Connect Team)
• Two members attending the Berwick Literary Festival next month to put their specialist skills to action and support the event with content!

We are incredibly proud of what Connect – and its members – have achieved, and we’re delighted that this has been recognised by being shortlisted for these awards.

Shortlist success

Following four nominations by Kayleigh Wilshaw (TACT’s Innovation and Continuous Improvement Manager) and Christina Brandi (TACT’s Strategic Director of Children’s Services), Connect was shortlisted for THREE of these in two industry awards!

Chosen by panels of independent judges (including previous award winners, social workers, industry leaders, and people with lived experience of social work) Connect has been selected from the hundreds of entries that these prestigious awards attract.

The Children & Young People Now Awards is now in its 19^th year and has 24 categories that showcase the innovation and outstanding practise across the children’s services sector, including championing the vital work of services for children in care and those leaving care – for which Connect has been identified as a potential winner for both.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards is a major national event in the social work industry with 18 categories across both children’s and adult services, including the Technology Enabled Lives and Practice Award for which Connect is shortlisted.

Peter Hay CBE, Chair of the Social Work Awards, said: “Being nominated for a national award, whilst supporting others during very challenging times in a year of big changes, is a remarkable achievement of which you should be very proud.”

Winners will be unveiled at glittering gala dinner ceremonies taking place on the 8^th and 28^th November in London.

For investing in co-producing Connect and helping to shape their brilliant community, the Connect Team will be attending both ceremonies with several members, including one member who is also a TACT Trustee.

The awards offer a perfect opportunity to celebrate within the community as well as raise the profile of this unique scheme to inspire others.

To find out more about Connect, take a look at the Connect pages of our website.

We’ll keep you posted about the outcome of the awards and hope the Connect team and their members enjoy celebrating their achievements together!