Celebrating National Care Leavers Week 2020
Shropshire Council is supporting National Care Leavers Week 2020 (running until Sunday 1 November) by showcasing and celebrating the successes of care leavers from across the county, and inspiring them to achieve their full potential.
The focus of this year’s National Care Leavers Week is ‘care leavers with careers’.
Holly Davies is the council’s care leavers’ ambassador. She is an experienced care leaver who juggles her job, caring for her young family and working for her degree.
Holly Davies and her son Jay
Here she shares her thoughts on her role within the council:
As a corporate parent, Shropshire Council has a responsibility and a duty of care to ensure that all young people leaving care are supported in living independently. The council helps care leavers in many ways including finding suitable accommodation, continuing their education, managing their finances, keeping healthy, and establishing good relationships.
Nick Bardsley, Shropshire Council’s Chair of the Corporate Parenting Steering Board, said:
“Many of us have children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces or friends’ family connections with young people. Of course we want the best for them. We help them whenever we can, maybe financially or perhaps just by taking the time with advice or making contacts easier for them.
“We don’t stop caring about how they’re getting on just because they have left school or college. If they’re in trouble or unhappy we want to be there for them. We always have aspirations for them. We want them to know that we’re proud of them.
“Our Looked-After Children and our care leavers are no different. We should and do care just as much for them. And if something – accommodation, relationships, job situation – isn’t good enough for our own children or grandchildren, it isn’t good enough for our Looked-After Children and care leavers.”
