After 3 successful years, our Breakthrough programme is almost complete. With just the graduation left to go, we were delighted to organise a special residential with Brathay, up in the beautiful Lake District for our care-experienced young people.
The 20th of June is the UN World’s Refugee Day. On this occasion, I would like to share a few insights and experiences I gained from supporting our young people with experience of foster and/or residential care in London.
If you know DFF, you also know that our mission is to support young care-experienced people into sustainable employment and to help them realize their full potential. And you might also know that each young person has a different story, different challenges and different strengths. Every day I learn something new from working with these wonderful talented young people and I am often amazed by how resilient and strong many of them are. What inspires me in particular, is to see the ambition and the drive of those young people that came to the UK as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UCAS). These are young people who are seeking asylum in the UK but who have been separated from their parents or carers. While their claim is processed, they are cared for by a local authority.
Children come into care for a variety of reasons, at the start of 2020, there were 78,150 children in care in England alone. Many, if not the majority, have all suffered some form of neglect or traumatic experiences pre-care. In many situations, parents not getting the support they needed was a significant factor in this but this, in many examples, is not recognised by the child. It becomes easy to personalise their experiences and conclude that they were not worthy of love, broken or were unwanted. It is no wonder that with such generalisations made at such an early age, any other adults who ‘intervene’ may be pushed away, untrusted or seen as a threat. After all, in some instances, in the child’s mind, the only adults who should have unconditionally loved them, didn’t want them. Understanding attachment theory is of paramount importance when working with these children during their education.
The last few months have been an interesting time for us all. We have all had to deal with change in some shape or form. For the young people on the Breakthrough programme, this has also been their experience but amplified due to their circumstances.
As we reflect on the uncertainties we have faced as adults during the coronavirus hysteria of 2020, we can only begin to imagine what it must have been like for a child of the state to grow up during this historical time.
Compass and Breakthrough, Drive Forward Early Intervention programmes, launched a new online series this month called ‘Up Close and Personal’. Bringing care-experienced young people aged 13-18 and professionals with authority in and around their lives together, the initiative aims to bust common myths that our young people may have about specific services and the people …
Have you ever wondered if it was possible to control your dreams? Ever woken up once and thought to yourself “whoa that was a good dream?” wishing to go back and continue it?
Well, what if I told you there was a way for you to dream about whatever you wanted, you’ll be in full control with your imagination being the limit!
We’re here to make a difference in the lives of young care leavers. Wherever they’re coming from, we’re on a mission to help open doors and give them the skills, confidence and inspiration to make some momentum and realise their full potential.
