When Luke was just 16 years old, his foster carer gave the required 28 days’ notice that they wanted to stop being his carer. Just four weeks to find Luke a suitable new home. Luke didn’t want to leave care, despite traumatic experiences including one foster carer making him leave the house at 10am each day and not come back until 7pm. But Luke was still in college and wanted to keep studying. He knew that a stable home would help him to do this.

Despite it being against the law, Luke was told staying in care wasn’t possible. He was able to access legal support from Clan Childlaw, but in the end social work housed him in student accommodation where he had to quickly adjust to living independently.

Luke and Rock Trust

When Luke was referred to Rock Trust for help, he met with one of our Project Workers Fiona. The first thing Fiona asked him was ‘what help do you need?’. Luke immediately identified that he needed help learning how to live alone – how to budget, how to cook for himself, how to get work. He was still a child. He hadn’t had the luxury of staying at home with family, learning how to become an adult at his own pace. He needed to learn fast.

“I can phone Fiona any time, speak to her about anything – all the things you don’t know as a kid. Rock Trust is such a lovely environment. I met some lovely kids doing Barista training.” Luke

A few weeks after meeting Fiona, Luke was told we had a flat for him, would he like to move in?

The flat he was offered was the first of five new flats that we are purchasing in Edinburgh to combat the housing crisis and make more homes available to young people.

Talking about moving into his new home, Luke felt overwhelmed with emotion, and described what it meant to have his own space, somewhere he could be for a long time and feel safe. He thought back to being in care and never feeling like his carers really wanted him there. His Rock Trust flat was a whole new start. He described his new home as having ‘high ceilings’ and ‘massive windows’, how he ‘remembered opening the door and being, like, wow.’ He invited his friends’ round on move in day and they helped unpack all his things in one evening and settle in. He never wanted to leave.

Looking to a better future

Luke is still only seventeen years old.

Fiona continues to support him. Looking forward, he is hoping to finish a course in electrical engineering and gain paid work. His dream is to own his own home, and he would love to one day foster children like him.

Luke’s experience has taught him so much. He feels strongly that if he’d been offered the right support, earlier, that he would never have found himself at risk of homelessness. Reflecting on his move in to care he said: ‘parents need as much support as their children’.

His advice for other young people going through what he went through:

“Be honest, ask for help. Talk to your friends – friends are what you need, people close to you who care about you.” Luke