Two young people have told of their experiences growing up in care as the Council held an event to plan its 2024 commitment to the ‘care leaver covenant’ to better support care leavers and tackle discrimination.
Reece, 23, has told his story after winning the Champion of the Year award from the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum for his role in ensuring the voices of care leavers are heard.
And Bethan, 19, who works for the Council, explained she gives up her free time to contribute to the Regional Care Leaver Board to give a voice for other care leavers across the North East.
Both are supporting the Council’s commitment to the Care Leaver Covenant, which is a national inclusion programme the council has adopted. The Coventant seeks to support care leavers to live independently.
The special event focused on the Council’s continuing commitment over the next year and was led by our care leavers like Bethan and Reece who told senior officers and councillors what was important to them. During the event the Council highlighted its continued commitment to a national campaign to ensures care experienced young people receive more protection against discrimination and would wish this to be in law.
Reece and Bethan tell their stories below:
Bethan
Bethan has provided a story in her own words
I am a 19-year-old care leaver, employed by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.
From a young age, I was raised by my grandmother who worked in children’s residential homes within Redcar and Cleveland. In my early teenage years, my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer and then later diagnosed with Dementia. Because her care needs increased, I dropped out school to look after her full time. Unfortunately, in June 2020, she passed away which meant that I was moved into foster care when I was 16.
I moved in with foster carers, who showed nothing but love and care towards me. They provided me with a stable home, a family and the drive to work hard for what I wanted. I began to study my A-Levels at Middlesbrough College and knew that I wasn’t doing the right thing, being sat in a classroom studying just wasn’t right for me at the time. I felt very stuck and didn’t know what avenue to take. After liaising with a career’s adviser, I was introduced to the term ‘apprenticeships’ which was something I didn’t really know a lot of information about. After further discussions about apprenticeships, I was offered a position within the Culture and Tourism team as a Business Support apprentice. I spent 16 months with a team who were so inspiring and helped me achieve so much in my time there. As well as working full-time in my apprenticeship, I was attending Redcar & Cleveland College twice a week completing a L3 Humanities evening access course.
I have now completed both my apprenticeship and access course and am working in the Children’s Education Department, which has allowed me to learn more and meet new people.
I now live independently and am a voice in the Regional Care Leavers Board, which allows me to voice my, and other care leavers from our Local Authority, opinions and what changes we would like to see from our Local Offer and see what is different for care leavers around the country.
I don’t allow being a ‘care kid’ determine where I want to get in life, and I will continue to work hard to get where I want to be.
Reece
Reece, who entered the care system aged just five, explained he is taking an Open University course in Primary Education and praised the Council’s Care Leaver Team (known as Target) for offering him support in the years since he left residential care. He has spoken about what support has worked for him…and what could be better.
He said: “The team at Target are amazing. It was them who helped me get on to the Open University course, providing everything I needed and they really do so much to help alleviate the loneliness that a lot of us feel when we go off on our own.
“I really support these new commitments and it is exactly right. That said, I’m not going to pretend a lot more shouldn’t be done for care leavers and I bring this up whenever I can. Until you turn 18 when you are in care there are these relationships you have with staff and suddenly that stops. You don’t see them any more and you get this sense of loneliness. There needs to be more preparation. When you end up in accommodation it can be scary depending on who you are with. You don’t always know how things work when you’re setting up your own home.”
Reece added that many care-experienced people also needed support on how to build safe relationships.
He said: “If you keep moving from place to place, as I did, you get more and more unsettled. I was very lucky with the support workers I got in residential care but I had dozens and foster placements and five schools. It’s hard to settle down. Also you don’t always know basic, practical things at first like how to fix a plug or what to do if the electricity goes off. That’s why these improvements at the council and the support you get from Target, like the new app or the help you get to write CVs or when they make sure everyone gets a present at Christmas, can be so helpful.”
Councillor Bill Suthers, Cabinet Member for Children, said: “Both of these remarkable young people should be very proud of themselves. They’re not only making something for their own lives but are going the extra mile to help other care-experienced people. They are real heroes and have important things to say.
“I’m proud the Council – including councillors of all parties - has made two key commitments. First, there’s the Covenant to provide extra support and second the commitment to doing all we can to prevent discrimination against care leavers. We need to double down on those commitments and that’s what the relaunch is all about.
“I’m very aware that making commitments isn’t enough in itself. It’s action on the ground – actually giving that support to the young person – that counts. It’s the kind of work our Care Leavers Team does day in and day out for little public recognition and I would like to put on record how valued the work they do for these often vulnerable young people is.”
Some of our care leavers would like to live in a supported home. If you think you could offer a home to a young person aged 18 to 21 coming out of care please contact Redcar and Cleveland’s supported lodging team on 01642 771650 to discuss in more detail or to request an information pack.