Shining a Light on Care Experienced Week 2026

Orkney Islands Council is proud to support Care Experienced Week, which begins today on Monday 26 October. The week celebrates every child, young person and adult with experience of care, and their supporters. 

Care Experienced Week was first held in 2018, launched by Who Cares? Scotland, and is now celebrated globally. Events take place all over Scotland, and each year brings new opportunities to listen, learn and celebrate. This year’s theme is #ForwardToTheFuture, celebrating the hopes and ambitions of Care Experienced people and looking ahead to what comes next. 

The week is also an opportunity to raise awareness of care experience among young people and their families, professionals and the wider community, and to reduce the stigma around what it is to be care experienced. 

To mark the week in Orkney, an Artivism campaign created by young people across the islands will be displayed in various locations across Kirkwall. The main installation will be showcased behind the Travel Centre, in collaboration with Orkney Builders, and will share young people’s voices through art and creativity. 

There will also be an opportunity to purchase handmade notebooks produced by a small number of Care Experienced young people in Orkney, in partnership with Soulisquoy Printmakers, during their Made with Care workshops over the summer.  

The notebooks will be available from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 October, between 12 and 1pm each day, at the Kirkwall Town Hall. Sales are cash only, and 100% of the profit will go to the young creatives. 

Once again, the week will culminate by illuminating St Magnus Cathedral in the colours of Scotland’s Promise, celebrating the commitment to Orkney’s Care Experienced community. The cathedral will be lit with colour on Friday 30 October.