06/06/2026
✨️Reflecting on Keeping The Promise ✨
Following yesterday's Keeping The Promise event, I found myself reflecting on one of the misconceptions I once held myself.
Having worked in social work for 17 years, I had thought that The Promise was developed solely for care-experienced children and young people, given that it emerged from the Independent Care Review.
However, through learning more about The Promise, I have come to understand that it is much bigger than that.
The Promise is for all children and young people, and for all of those who care for and support them – parents, carers, extended family members, teachers, social workers, youth workers, and communities.
It provides a framework that encourages connection, compassion, understanding, and collective responsibility, bringing us together to ensure that every child grows up loved, safe, respected, and able to reach their full potential.
At The Holding Space, our work aligns closely with the five foundations of The Promise:
💛 Voice – We create safe spaces where children, young people, and families feel heard, valued, and involved in decisions that affect them.
💛 Family – Through our whole-family approach, we recognise the importance of relationships and work alongside parents, carers, and wider support networks to strengthen connections.
💛 Care – Our trauma-informed, relationship-based practice focuses on building trusting, therapeutic relationships where children feel emotionally held and supported.
💛 People – We invest in the adults around children, recognising that when parents, carers, and professionals feel supported, children benefit too.
💛 Scaffolding – We help build the networks, skills, and community connections that allow children and families to thrive long after our direct involvement has ended.
It is also a vital component that our practitioners are supported in order to provide our services. By using self reflective practice, trauma informed and relationship based practice creates connection and a shared understanding and compassion. Of all the tools we learn in training it is our use of self that has the biggest impact.
The Promise reminds us that supporting children is not the responsibility of one service or one group of people. It is something we all have a role in. Every positive relationship, every act of kindness, every opportunity to listen, and every safe space we create contributes to keeping The Promise.
Together, we can create communities where all children and young people feel seen, heard, valued, and supported.
