South Yorkshire voices shape national conversation on support for care leavers

At the conference, they heard from young people who shared personal journeys through the care system as part of a panel on recognising care experience as a driver for change.

Randy, a young person supported by Big Leaf, was one of the speakers. He said: "Before I found Big Leaf, I felt stuck. I didn’t feel supported to pursue my interests or my ambitions. And that’s when I started to realise that many of the barriers faced by care leavers, especially young displaced people, are not about ability. They’re about systems that don’t really see us fully as individuals with dreams."

Affinity 2020 is a community interest company based in Rotherham which supports young people who are in, or have recently left, the care system.

It received a grant of £15,000 from SYCF for the pilot of its successful Care Leaver Project, a programme aiming providing people with skills and qualifications to achieve better life outcomes.

Michelle Dickinson, head of philanthropy and programmes, at SYCF, said:

I was truly inspired both professionally and personally by the speakers at this thought-provoking conference.

Listening to young people share their incredible journeys as care-experienced young people and hearing what it really takes to make education and employment pathways fairer and more supportive really empowered me to want to do more both professionally and personally.

 

SYCF has recently secured further funding for the programme to build on its success and work with Affinity to support even more young people in South Yorkshire.

Charlotte Elliott, CEO of Affinity 2020 CIC, said:

It was a privilege to represent South Yorkshire at the conference which brought together a group of people deeply committed to driving national change for care leavers. The passion and collective purpose were truly something special.

A huge, heartfelt thank you to Michelle and the team at SYCF. Thanks to their hard work and belief in what we do, Affinity has secured funding to support young people with opportunities that can be genuinely life‑changing.

Events like this remind me how powerful partnership, hope and shared values can be. Here’s to continued collaboration, purposeful action and creating brighter futures for care‑experienced young people

 

The £7 million national Care Leavers Programme is being managed across 31 community foundations, including SYCF in South Yorkshire, working alongside local authorities and the voluntary sector over five years to strengthen local partnerships and improve outcomes for care-experienced young people.

Hosted at CCLA Investment, the conference focused on cross-sector collaboration, systems change and elevating care leaver voice.

Guest speakers included Fatima Whitbread MBE, former World Champion, care-experienced advocate and founder of Fatima’s UK Campaign.