November is National Care Leavers' Month, and organisations across the country use it to talk about what young people need as they move towards living independently.
We care for young people aged 8 to 17, so for most of the children living with us leaving care is still some way off. That is exactly why it matters now. The skills someone needs at eighteen are built years earlier, in small ordinary moments: cooking a meal they chose, managing their own money, booking their own appointment, being allowed to get something wrong and try again.
Our job is to make those moments normal rather than to run a course on them. A young person who has been genuinely listened to about small decisions is in a far better position when the bigger ones arrive.
If you work with a young person approaching a transition and you want to talk through how we prepare for it, our referrals team can arrange that conversation.