“I was never abused, but I never felt loved by the families who took me in.”
This is the heart-wrenching admission that one Manchester woman revealed when discussing her childhood in care to MM.
But, determined to ensure that no other child has such an experience, 27-year-old Kim Marsh is devoting her life to providing help and support to other care leavers through her work with New Belongings.
The group runs in six local authorities nationally, including Trafford where there are 291 children in care and 200 going through transition.
Kim explained: “New Belongings is aiming to improve care at a local level – it investigates the current conditions and finds out what are the successes and what are the pitfalls.
“As part of it I listen to care leavers and I tell my story.
“For some people I am a source of frustration as they think ‘why isn’t that me?’ but for many people I can be an inspiration and motivate them to do things they never thought they could.
“I visit care leavers and check that the local authorities are helping them in all the ways they can like providing people with gym passes or club memberships that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
“It’s about empowering people and narrowing the gap between those who have been in care and those who haven’t.”
Like thousands of children every year Kim was forced into care at the age of three where she stayed until she was 18.
She describes it as an ‘incredibly traumatic’ experience, but counts herself lucky compared to others who have gone through the system.
“At the age of three, after a family breakdown my mother was deemed incapable and I was taken into care,” she revealed.
“Me and my sister Gemma were kept together but sadly my brother was taken into another family.
“The system will always try and put siblings together and to this day I don’t understand why we weren’t.
“Because of that, being in care is always a part of me, much like it is for any care leaver.”
After several years in the foster system Kim was taken in by her grandmother.
She explained: “I feel fortunate because others in care who didn’t have my ending have succumbed to a life of drugs and reckless behaviour.
“This kind of outcome is too prevalent and that’s why if the system finds someone who loves you, it can actually be fantastic.
“While my nan became like a mother to me, our circumstances were reviewed every few months and this went a long way to making me feel different and isolated.
“Being in care is always a part of me, much like it is for any care leaver.”
The Fallowfield resident is also a leading researcher and volunteers with The Care Leavers Foundation to empower those who struggle with isolation and need further support after leaving care.
Care Leavers Foundation Trustee Janet Rich works alongside Kim and is extremely proud of her attitude.
She said: “Kim’s always willing to help out and volunteer, and she brings such passion and enthusiasm to care leavers.
“Making your way in the world without a family or a rock is difficult but she’s done a great job.
“She’s almost backwards in going forwards in the sense that she doesn’t look for praise or blow her own trumpet, she just gets on with it.”
On top of working with the care organisations Kim also volunteers full time with first-year students as a live-in mentor in Manchester halls.
She is available around the clock for those who feel secluded and struggle in their initial year away from home.
“I originally lived by myself but moved into halls after meeting a number of students with some common problems,” she said.
“A lot of their issues I could relate to and so I contacted the university I proposed that I live among them.
“Each student has my number and I’m always available to give help when needed.”
Despite what Kim calls ‘limiting circumstances,’ she went on to complete an undergraduate degree in which she received an enormous amount of praise.
The reaction to her success caused her to question the career path she had chosen and instead honour the obligation she felt for others in care.
“For getting a degree I was seen on a pedestal, as exemplary because I achieved when because of my background I was expected not to,” Kim said.
“I thought that was wrong and needed changing.”
She turned down lucrative business opportunities and instead took out a loan to research the under-representation of care leavers in education and their over-representation in prison which has led to a PhD project at the University of Manchester.
Kim said: “I completed a year in business during my degree, but I had to ask myself what really mattered.”
“I funded a pilot study of different care environments and soon found that 40% of the prison population has been in care at some point.
“Education is the biggest deterrence of criminality and the difference between those in prison and those not in largely a background in education.
“My research is shedding new light on ways that this can change and how carers can obtain an education easier.”
Kim’s research has received much recognition including an invitation to sit on the panel that developed the updated Care Leavers Charter earlier this year.
The charter has been signed by every national authority in the country and will improve the support that all care leavers receive.
Kim added: “I am very touched to be seen as a hero, but the real heroes are the people who work in the care system; the social workers, the leaving care workers, anyone who is striving to make a difference.
“Above all, the young people who come out of the care system as truly inspirational individuals, they should be everyone’s heroes.”
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