A new digital solution will give young people in the care of North Tyneside Council the chance to store and access precious memories that might otherwise be lost or forgotten.
The Virtual Memory Box supports young people in care by giving them a safe and accessible digital space to store their memories, photographs and mementos to help them reflect and understand their life story.
North Tyneside Council will soom roll out the Virtual Memory Box after research showed it helps solve the problem of the negative impact on young people when they lose or misplace mementos and items, which are often irreplaceable.
Children and young people in care, care experienced young people, foster carers and social workers were all involved in developing Virtual Memory Box. It is also a useful and important tool for the adults in the young people’s lives and can help them communicate, understand, and develop their relationship with young people in their care.
It's expected that more than 380 children and young people in the borough will be able to safely store and access precious memories and mementos.
Julie Firth, Director of Children’s Services at North Tyneside Council, said: “We know, because children have told us, that supporting them to have meaningful memories of their childhood is important.
“We’re excited to be working with Virtual Memory Box to introduce a digital solution that will enable the child’s network to focus on collecting memories and helping children to understand their journey to adulthood.
“This work is part of a three-year journey to improve and develop our practice within the area of life story work and we look forward to seeing the benefits it brings.”
Christian Brock, MD at Virtual Memory Box said, “We are so delighted to have North Tyneside Council joining the local authorities we partner with, it’s particularly special to us as we are based in the North East and developed Virtual Memory Box here.
“It’s our aim to give all children in care across the country access to a Virtual Memory Box, as we know from research how vital it is in helping support their life story and building their identify, and how useful it is for social workers and carers too. It’s wonderful to know that children and young people across North Tyneside will be benefiting from this innovative digital tool too.”
