Care made me
When a young person is in foster carer there are many statistics which show that outcomes for children within education, health, employment and crime are less positive than those of their peers which have grown up within a conventional family unit. But here we show how foster care has had a positive effect on young people's lives.
When a young person is in foster carer there are many statistics which show that outcomes for children within education, health, employment and crime are less positive than those of their peers which have grown up within a conventional family unit.
These statistics often feed into the sub-conscience, so as a society we expect less of looked after children or worse, expect many adults within our criminal justice system to have been in care in the past.
At Fostering People we believe all children can achieve regardless of background. As long as children receive the right help, support encouragement and love...someone to be proud when they succeed.
We want to celebrate children and young people's successes, to show how proud we are of them and to proof that young people in care have gone on to do great things. In fact #caremademe.
From working towards fantastic career ambitions to educational achievements, our young people show that statistics don't have to apply to all. When foster carers receive the right support, they are in turn best placed to support the children in their care to achieve.
How being in care helped Toni
Toni spent time in foster carer before she was adopted by her forever family. As an adult, Toni works for Fostering People in our placements team, finding home's for children in care just like her. Toni is a wonderful poet, and she has written this wonderful poem to show that #caremademe.
Education
At Fostering People we are exceptionally proud of our young people's results in school. Education is often affected when children have early life trauma and multiple home moves due to being in care. By supporting our foster carers well, we are able to provide greater stability for children which helps them to achieve in school.
At Key Stage 2 - 56% of our children are working at or above the national standard - that's 11% higher than the national average for looked after children*.
In 2019 32% of our children achieved grade 9 - 4 (A* - C) in Maths and English and 38% of our young people taking GCSE's achieved 5 or more at grade 9 - 4 (A*-C).
Our campaign #caremademe focuses on just 4 of our young people who have excelled in their studies, we have changed there name to protect their identity.
Ashar came into care as an asylum seeker but is now studying Electrical Engineering, he studies whilst still living with his foster carers on a stay put arrangement.
Amy is now becoming a social worker herself and she hopes that her own experiences will enable her to have empathy with the children on her case load.
Jasmine came into care with Fostering People and was excluded from school due to her behaviour - but who is now doing a chemistry degree at University and Tom who has become a teacher.
If you think you could help young people to achieve there ambitions we'd like to hear from you.