Every year 10,000 young people leave care and many are thrust into the adult world before they are ready, facing a life without the support of family and friends that so many of us take for granted. Young people tell us they're missing the skills and trusted people they need to help them navigate this new chapter in their lives. The impact of having been in care does not end at 18, 21 or even 25. It is a continuous lifetime experience that can have lasting effects. To tackle the issue, we have created Side by Side a programme which will help young people to bridge the gap between leaving care and finding their own way in the world, providing a broad range of support and mentoring.

Many young people are not ready to leave home at the age of 18 to fend for themselves even when they have a loving family supporting them.  For the young people leaving the care system at 18 years old, often the support is switched off and they find themselves alone and unprepared.  Many of them go to live in unregulated accommodation which can be scary for a lot of them as they have no one to support them or to turn to if things go wrong.

61% of them will go on to suffer from depression, anxiety or other mental health illnesses.

39% of them will drop out of education, training or employment.

1 in 4 of them (25%) will become homeless.

1 in 4 (25%) of the prison population are care leavers.

Your money can help NYAS to change this!  Please help us by donating whatever you can.  We will use your donations to support care leavers in the first 12 months of their transition from care to independence - through our dedicated SidebySide care leaver support programme.  This dedicated support is NOT funded by any statutory bodies and relies on your generosity.  

Please ask yourself - 'Would this be good enough for your child?'.  Thank you for your support.