Despite lots of media attention around care experiences for children,  it is an uncomfortable truth that many care experienced adults receive inadequate support. Without the network of family and friends that most 16-25 year olds take for granted, with difficult living arrangements and challenges entering the workforce many feel overwhelmed, alone and lost. This can leave young people at risk from harm from those who would seek to exploit them for their own gain.

It is not surprising then that the outcomes for those after being in the care of the state are so different from the general population. We know from the statistics that are widely available just how wide the gap is. Across every measure from mental health, homelessness, prison population, prostitution, substance misuse and so on, care experienced adults are disproportionately represented.

However, with your help we can continue to provide regular and meaningful support for children who have lived with us.  We can continue to act as an advocate and ensure they have good quality and stable accommodation. We can support them to understand their finances and take the next step in their education or their first step into work. Most importantly, we can be there when something goes wrong to pick them up and help get their lives back on track.

This is not easy work, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and no quick fix. It takes time, dedication and the generosity of our supporters and so working together we can help young people build a safe and secure future.

We look to provide our children with life enriching experiences that all children have the right to enjoy. This might include paying membership fees to join a local club, providing equipment to pursue a hobby or a trip to London to see a play at the theatre. From time to time we also fund really special trips abroad and in the last few years we have had groups go to France, Holland and even an overnight stay for our younger children to meet Father Christmas in Lapland. These experiences have a huge impact on our children and provide them with a positive focus and happy memories of their childhood that will last a lifetime.

Improving our facilities

We want our children to have the very best facilities and environment and are always looking for ways we can make improvements. In recent years we have added new classrooms at our School to provide vocational education courses and new activity rooms for some of our children’s homes. Over the next few years we will be focusing on improving our therapy rooms and creating peaceful and relaxing outdoor spaces for therapy sessions to take place. We also want to build a new food tech classroom for our secondary school, canteen facilities for our primary school and a forest school treehouse on site.