Care Experienced Week takes place at the end of October every year. It is a week to celebrate the Care Experienced community, and we're honoured that six students have chosen to share their stories with us. As you'll be able to read below, our students have so many varied experiences.
The term 'care experienced' can mean many different things, and includes those who have lived in foster care, residential care, kinship care and more - you can find out more about who might define as care experienced here. All the stories have been anonymised.
1. Jane's Story
I am a care experience student of over 10 years. I moved into care at the age of 6 and left at the age of 18. I lived with my amazing Forster parents who supported me through school and my education. I didn’t enjoy school much. I wasn’t very bright but when I left school I decided to join a theatre group which really helped me come out of my shell. I joined a college course when I was 19 but I wasn’t ready for the commitment. I’ve had my little boy and now that I’m married I’m ready to get into my studying again. I’ve had such a great time this time round and have made such great friends with my peers. Can’t wait for the rest of the college year!
2. John's Story
I have been in residential care for 4 years now and have started college recently (26th of august 2024). Being at college is definitely difficult at times due to past experiences with education. I moved from Foster care to Foster care then to residential care all in the span of a year when I was 13, so education was hard. College is actually a lot different than school, the help is A LOT better for care experienced young people like myself and it would be great for young people to not feel ailenated from other students just because of circumstance. I think I'm good proof that no matter the circumstance, you can do what you whatever you want to if you just try really bloody hard
3. Sophie's Story
By the time I was 13 I had lived in 7 different homes. I was fortunate to have two siblings, one older and one young, with me up until I was 14 years old. After that it was my younger brother and myself. Sadly, my brother passed away shortly after his 18th birthday and then it was just me against the world. Conditions in each home were not great, we endured many hardships and witnessed even more. However, I am grateful to be alive. Looking back I appreciate the good opportunities I was given, learn from the bad ones and try to be different. Living in care has made me resilient, strong, independent and the other negative effects I'm working on overcoming. Although my first years were not ideal my future is looking great. Edinburgh College has supported me in many different ways I could not have imagined. I am happy and grateful. I am a survivor.
4. Dave's Story
I have been in foster care for 14 years now and it has probably been the best thing that can happen. I have went through some rough times in school with bullies when they found out about my care experience. I see some of my biological siblings sometimes and have not seen my biological parents for around 6 years now. I am trying to make a positive out of being in care to show everyone that it can be a good thing rather than a bad thing and love my foster parents so much.
5. Billie's story
Growing up in care is hard you can struggle a lot in school so when I went to college it felt more relaxing and I was able to learn much better and have lots of support and I have been able to trust The lecturer to help me when I need or give me support and advice when I’m struggling.
6. Jenny's Story
“Care experienced” can mean so many different things. I didn’t even realise I was considered Care Experienced until I was sixteen. Apart from a short spell in foster care for a couple of weeks, I mainly lived at home with my mum, but I had a social worker throughout my childhood, which means I was technically looked after at home, with protection from social services.
There were times at home when I wished I wasn’t there – that I wished I’d been taken into care more permanently. I faced lots of conflicts and even abuse at home, I also experienced homelessness aged 16-17. I was undiagnosed autistic until I 2021, which also made everything more complicated. When I realised I was care experienced it started to help me make sense of my life, and how I can sometimes react to different situations – like being unable to trust people, or sometimes being too trusting.
A huge change came for me when I came across my local champs group. It’s a group of young people in care or who experienced the care system in the past. We met regularly to talk about important issues affecting our lives. I felt like I could be me. I also got involved in Who Cares Scotland, who help people like me get the support they need. Through getting involved with these groups I’ve gained a sense of belonging. I’ve met some great friends, including my lifelong care family, and I feel like I’ve been able to start healing.
If you’re a care experienced student at college, I’d really encourage you to reach out to others and get the support you need. I always felt guilty about accessing extra support, but now I know that’s how we can achieve our full potential. To any staff who want to support care experienced students, I would say please bear with us. College is a chance for us to change our lives, so please understand if we need a bit more space or flexibility, because of what might be happening in our personal lives outside of college.
If you are a care experienced student, you are not alone and you can get help and support while you're at Edinburgh College. If you haven't yet let the college know that you're care experienced, please reach out to the team and they will be able to help provide you with extra support.
Shona Alexander at Sighthill
Sharon Pearson at Midlothian
Mireya Ferrer at Milton Road
Katarzyna Wasilewska at Granton
You can read a special Care Experienced Week guest blog from Catherine McCormack, the college's Corporate Parent Lead, here.
We work in partnership with Hub for Success to help support our Care Experienced students, and they are hosting two events at the college in the coming weeks.These events are for all care experienced students at college or university, and will be an informal opportunity for you to socialise with other students and the Hub for Success partnership staff. There are absolutely no expectations of attendees to share personal stories of care or why you are there, just come along for some food, meet new folk, and have a chat.
Tuesday 29th October, 12-2pm – Sighthill campus (sign up here)
Wednesday 20th November, 12-2pm – Milton Road campus (sign up here)