We love to share positive fostering stories, so let us tell you about Casey…

Casey, is a former foster child and now an independent young person. She lived with her CFC foster family for the last five years of childhood before ageing out of care. Casey has come up with an initiative that aims to provide foster children and young people coming into care and joining a new foster family, a welcome gift box containing all the essentials and a little note from her.

Casey has been in the foster care system since she was very little. Being split from her mum and not knowing her siblings, she has faced a lot of adversity, instability and challenge and she continues to deal with the effects of developmental and relational trauma. In her time with Community Foster Care, Casey has been actively engaged with our charity and continues to work with us in any way she can in order to help other young people going through similar experiences.

We wanted to shout about this latest positive story surrounding Casey and so we sat down with her to find out her motivation for this initiative. She bravely shares the painful memories of arriving at new foster homes with just a plastic bin bag holding her small amount of possessions. She tells of how those experiences left her with feelings of being unwanted and not belonging and how if she can provide any small comfort to other children feeling the same, that's what she's going to do. These welcome boxes are to let those children and young people know that there are people out there who understand what they're going through, that there are people who care and that there are more positive times coming.

We are so proud of Casey for how far she has come and continues to go, how much self awareness she has and her selfless pursuit of helping others. As a fostering charity with a strong therapeutic approach, we know how important it is to cultivate lifelong links for young people but we also recognise that the adversity young people in care face, means they are far more vulnerable than those not living in care or coming out of foster care. Maintaining positive links can be very difficult for care experienced young people, so to continue growing that relationship with Casey is a real pleasure for the organisation and something we are very proud of. We hope you enjoy this little snippet of her story.