The full story…

“​It all started with John and I being foster carers. Our own children had grown up and flown the nest and we weren’t ready to leave our parenting days behind. We wanted to give our home, love and support to less fortunate children. So that’s what we did.
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For 20 years we fostered over 25 children, from babies through to teenagers. It was tough at times, but hugely rewarding. There was a family of three that came to live with us at the ages of 8, 9 and 9, and because of their unfortunate family situation, the government said they were to remain in care till they were adults which at that time was when they left school. So in some cases that might have been 16 years of age. So when the eldest was just 17, and really not ready for independent living, he left our home and ended up living in various inappropriate places including hostels, where drugs and alcohol were rife.

Childhood memories came flooding back to him and sadly he turned to alcohol which made him violent. He went downhill fast and ended up in prison. John and I visited him regularly, and it was heartbreaking to watch him get progressively worse as he continued to be surrounded by more troubled young adults. It was very distressing to see so many youngsters in there. I turned to John and said “We HAVE to do something about this!” Most 17 year olds aren’t ready to leave home at that age, especially those who’ve been through turbulent and difficult childhoods. Nowadays, it’s very common for children to stay at their family home way into their 30s. It wasn’t fair that these kids had to suffer once again.
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Back then, I was Chair of the Foster Care Association in West Berkshire and knew that others felt the same, so 5 of them joined forces with John and I and we lobbied the Government to increase the age of care leavers. Disappointingly, it was rejected on two separate occasions. Determined and committed to our belief and dream that “Every child and young person deserves a nice place to live until they’re ready for independence” led to the birth of our charity, Children First West Berkshire, now called Young People & Children First. We are a bridge to independence for all care leavers who want and need us. We can positively impact future generations and save society millions of pounds, by getting these children and young adults out of the benefit system and severing the ongoing cycle of the benefit trap.
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I’m eternally grateful to Greenham Common Trust, my husband John, and the founding Trustees ( George, Pauline and Ian), who have made this dream a reality. We have our first house, Cornerstone and more recently Rebecca house. You can read more about our houses and what we do here.
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We are still the only place in the UK that offers such a service and we are so grateful to all our supporters, as without you, we would not be able to grow and make a difference to more of the disadvantaged young people and children out there, who would otherwise, most likely, be homeless. It soon became apparent that other young also find themselves homeless at a very young age. So if we have a vacancy and no care leaver needing our service we offer the place to them.”