Become
Backing children in care and care leavers
Become is the national charity for children in care and young care leavers in England. Its work is shaped by what care-experienced young people say they need, combining practical advice, a warm community and campaigns to change a care system that too often falls short.
Young people can contact Become’s free, confidential Care Advice Service to talk through anything from their rights to housing and money. Alongside this, the charity offers one-to-one support into further education, higher education and work, plus workshops, social events and training for the professionals around them.
Young people come away knowing their rights, the support they are entitled to and that there is a community who understands them. By amplifying their voices to the public and decision-makers, Become helps change the system itself, so care-experienced people have the same chances as everyone else.
2022
Year they joined the Raise Your Hands platform
1,566
Children and Young People supported last year
Why they’re needed
Children go into care for many reasons, and the care system exists to keep them safe. Yet too often it does not give them the stability every child needs. Many experience changes in where they live, which school they attend or who their social worker is, unsettling their education, friendships and wellbeing.
Some children are placed far from the people and places they know, and there are not enough suitable homes for everyone who needs one. Being in care can also mean navigating unfamiliar processes and language, and having to push hard for support young people are entitled to.
Many young people are expected to become independent at 18, often before they feel ready and just when stability matters most. Without the family networks others take for granted, too many care leavers face this “care cliff” alone, and care-experienced people are more likely than their peers to experience homelessness.
How they do it
The Care Advice Service is a free, confidential helpline for young people in care and care leavers, open on weekdays by freephone, WhatsApp, email or online form. The team listens, explains rights and entitlements in plain language, and connects young people with further help on everything from placements to money worries.
Propel into Education offers advice, workshops and longer-term one-to-one support for care leavers heading to college or university, including a searchable guide to the support each institution offers. Propel into Work helps young people find jobs and apprenticeships, polish their CVs and prepare for interviews.
Link Ups are free social events for care-experienced young people aged 18 to 27, held online twice a month, with in-person days out through the year, from theatre trips to team challenges. Young people can also join the Youth Editorial Board and help shape Become’s work.
Become campaigns alongside young people to change the system, including calls to end the care cliff and to keep children in care close to the people and places that matter. It also trains professionals and carers, including personal advisers, so the adults around young people can support them well.
Find out more about Become’s amazing work
Casey’s Story
Casey had wanted to study science since she was 12. In foster care, she was doing so well that her social workers fought to keep her in the same family and school. But as 18 approached, she was moved into supported lodgings with little time to prepare, and the placement broke down.
What followed was the care cliff in action: short-term jobs on minimum wage, debt, and losing her home while she waited for benefits to arrive. Slowly, she rebuilt her life, finding her confidence again through paid and voluntary work advocating for children in care.
At 21, Casey went back to college to study space engineering, passed her A Levels in Maths and Physics, and won a place to study Astrophysics at the University of Dundee. Now she speaks up for young people facing the same cliff edge: “No one moves out at 18. No one does that. No one is ready for that.”
Support Become along with 15 other children’s charities
Become is one of a portfolio of small UK children’s charities championed by Raise Your Hands. When you donate to us, your gift is shared equally between every charity in the portfolio.
One donation. 16 small charities. 16 ways to change a young life.
