Care leavers’ transitions to independence

I probably would have given up in all honestly because I’d attempted applying for uni multiple times and every time I just got the rejection, and I think it was getting to the point where I was just like: ‘at what stage do I give up?’ Because I’ve always... I’ve always fought, and it’s, I’ve never known when to stop. And I think it was getting to the point where it was like... it got to... even when I was applying with the help of these guys, I had to... I thought to myself: ‘after all the difference that I’ve done in this last... whilst I’ve been working here, if uni then turn round and say no, is that my sign to give up?’ So, the thought process was still there, but I think... and I spoke with my managers at work and they were like, “Well, you’re going to get it,” So you know, they... even when I’d doubted myself and they... they pushed me through it.

They sounded like they were confident for you.

I think they were a lot more confident than I was, yeah.

It was when I was living in [county], that’s when things started looking up a little bit, because I managed to get my life in control, and ‘cos when I was in sixth form, I didn’t get good grades like I, I was, I, yeah… I didn’t really have good grades, and, I knew I wanted to go back to uni but I didn’t have the qualifications to be able to go to a good uni like [City]. I knew I wanted to come here, ‘cos like it was during my travels, I, I travelled to [City] and I, I met somebody who lives here, and I fell in love with the place and always said to myself, if ever I could come to this uni, I would love to do that, and so, that’s why I went… I went back to college to get the grades to come here and that’s sort of when things got better because I had, I gave myself like that structure and I had that motivation and ambition, and that I was able to find a place to go.

So, I don’t know if you know about this, and I’ll have to Google it again, but some of my decisions on where I wanted to go to uni, I’m just remembering this now, was based on… there’s a website [Propel into Education] that shows different universities and offers that they can give to care leavers, whether that be money, or reduced rent, or just sort of anything. Like, for example I get an email every year kind of going: ‘you’ve got a guaranteed spot to live on campus,’ because I’m a care leaver, and through university I also get additional funding. Like graduation and stuff, they’re giving me some money for that, and also paying for the robes and hat, so... and a bit of the photo money, or whatever, which is absolutely lovely. And I got, was it, £2,000 a year for just being a care leaver, I don’t have to pay back. So, it’s been really good because it’s just given me a bit more breathing space, you know?

I have attended... so I like to get involved in as much stuff as possible; I’m quite a tunistic [sic] person. So, I’ve invo... I’ve... so recently in end of May, I attended I guess like a little mini summer school for the University of [city], but at [name of] Campus, because I really wanted to go to [country] for uni for quite a long time, and that was... that is my second choice. So, I went... they were offering it, so I went there and did that, travelled up there on my own and everything – the journey back was not fun – but I went there for that and it was great. But going there made me realise that that wasn’t where I wanted to go, so it just kind of like confirmed. It was as much as my carers are like: “Oh, well, you know, maybe you shouldn’t have gone ’cause you don’t like it,” I’m glad that like I did go ’cause now I know that I don’t like it, and I then switched my second choice to my other one that I was trying to choose between. So, I’d rather have gone than not have. My university as well, my actual university that I do wanna go to, has had a few talks and seminars about accommodation and finance. And when going there, there was a fair and everything, so I learned about... a lot about what was available to me, and what wasn’t. I’ve attended quite a few other university summer schools and stuff as well. I did one at [university], one at [university] with the [name of] Trust summer school. So, I’ve hopped about here and there about finding out mostly the university experience, what it’s gonna be like, what different universities offer and what’s gonna be the best for me, pretty much. So, I feel like I’ve done the most I can in terms of that.

I think the main issue across the whole of my leaving care experience has been the lack of organisation, to be honest. I have had easy access to mental health services and, I mean, I got lowered grade boundaries just for being in care through my university application, which I was like: ‘that’s amazing, but, OK.’ Huh. So, there are benefits of being a care leaver, there’s just a lot of things that need adjusting.

Thankfully, the woman who we had, I really, really liked her. She was... that we had a UCAS teacher and she was a foster carer, so she knew about it all. And in our personal statement... [sighs] The thing is with getting to uni, like she said how we should mention what we’ve been through and how it will help, like, show that we’re doing our best to get to the place. And even though our grades may not be as high as the others, we’ve had other things to deal with. And it was nice. I did feel a bit like I was begging to get in... like, I was using the sob story a little bit. But the teacher who had the experience in foster care really, really, like, knew what she was doing because of that. My... I don’t think I’ve really had any help with anyone else but that teacher, and she was really, really good for it, so I really do appreciate her.

Personal statement: I did on my own, which you do anyway. The same with uni. But I think at the beginning we were looking at some universities together, me and my carers, but towards the end, when I really needed to properly pick, or at least I chose some, submitted it and then un-chose them, and I went through pretty much every uni in the UK looking for their requirements and whether I’d want to go there. But I did that on my own mostly, but I think that’s because I kind of wanted my own viewpoint. I knew that if somebody else did it for me, I’d probably be more likely to reject the idea; I’m just like that sometimes. So... or if they did bring it up, I’d think, ‘oh, well, they’ve already looked at it, so I won’t look at it,’ and then it happens. But yeah, so I did get support for it, from my carers, but not from my social worker, pretty much, just... just my carers.

So, after my first social worker, I asked for a change of social workers, so I got a new social worker and she’s really good. She’s really supportive. When she found out I wanted to do medicine and she realised how hard it is, she got me a lot of support. So there’s something called Virtual School, so they helped pay for my UCAT practice. They helped me book my UCAT test ’cause the UCAT is part of the process. I think they made it a lot easier for me, and they know a lot more than I do. They helped me go to open days. They booked my tickets and... yeah, so it wasn’t very hard to go through the process. I’m a bit nervous still, but... yeah.

So, it was, I can remember, so I mentioned I did [university programme] the residential and I was just crying every night in my room, like, I can’t be here, I’m going to drop out. And like, I’ve got an offer from [university] and I’m not going to drop out. But it was just so isolating. The other big issue is the practicality of moving from [City] to [City]. You don’t have a family to help you move your stuff out. You are moving your entire, you can’t leave things at home, because there is no home to leave it at. So, you have to bring every single belonging you have. It’s like, I remember when you pack up your stuff for care, I remember social workers coming and it’s like you’ve got half an hour, pack a bag up and you move to the new placement. It’s like, I felt like that all over again. It was like, great, I’ve gotta pack my bags and rush down to [City] and go. And it’s like a game. When you are having to move out every eight weeks, it’s like, great, pack a bag and let’s move out, let’s go. I’m almost an expert now and it helps you sort of; you’ve moved out so many times, you’ve packed your bags and your belongings. You get used to it. But, sort of like moving to university like, there was no support there, which is quite difficult. Luckily, I had somebody who volunteered, sort of, drive me down help me with all that, which was really, really nice. But, yeah, like the accommodation with the support worker didn’t really offer any support at all.

So, there was a choice between, I think, it was 51 weeks or 44 weeks. So, the 51 weeks was the whole year, so that included the holidays as well, or there was 44 weeks. So it would be, like, you’d come in September, but you’d leave in June, so you’d have like the summer holiday to just move back in with whoever. Yeah, that’s how it worked with my one.