Duke of Edinburgh Awards, leads to a trip to the Palace!

Pauline Stormont receives award from the Earl of Wessex

In 2018 Fostering People established its first Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme for young people in our Yorkshire region.

The scheme was brought to the agency by Pauline Stormont, who recently retired, following 40 years of working in social care.

Due to her commitment to understanding the benefits of D of E for ‘looked after’ children, Pauline was invited to St James Palace as a VIP to meet with the Earl of Wessex - Prince Edward and receive an award for establishing the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme within the Core Assets Group.

The event saw over 300 young people receive their gold awards including a ‘looked after’ young person who described how angry she was with the world and her foster carers prior to taking part in D of E, but how her foster carer kept encouraging her to take part and do her bronze award. She described the tremendous benefit she attributes to the programme including giving her confidence, competence and patience and having completed her bronze award this is the first time she has had the desire to take the next step.

Pauline was fortunate to be given a tour of St James Palace which is not open to the public and home to the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. Pauline was also able to talk directly to the Earl of Sussex about bringing the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme to Fostering People and how beneficial the skills learnt and experiences gained can be for 'looked after' children.