Andrew Mulley: Young people in care shouldn't be abandoned at 18

Hundreds of foster carers will descend on Westminster today to ask the Government to change the rules on young people leaving care. They want a commitment that they will continue to receive funding when they offer a home to young adults they have fostered. At the moment, children in care have to move out on their 18th birthdays and fend for themselves unless – like me – they are lucky enough to have foster carers who keep them on, often at their own cost.

I am 17 and have been in care for four years. If it wasn't for my foster carers' dedication to me, and their determination that I would stay with them after I turned 18, my future would look very different. Like most foster carers throughout England, they will receive no funding to cover the costs of keeping me on. I consider myself very lucky, but it shouldn't be a matter of luck whether you get a chance of a successful future. It should be an opportunity available to all young people, including those in care.

The Children and Young Persons Bill being debated today in the Commons says the Government will run a number of pilot projects enabling young people to stay with their foster carers until they are 21. But it is not making a commitment to make these schemes available to all young people like me across the United Kingdom. There is already a scheme in Northern Ireland where all young people who are at college or doing a training course can stay with their foster carers until they are 21. They don't need pilot projects to know this is worth doing – the information is already there, and it shows that it is.

When I came into care, my mum had just died and my dad was finding it really hard to cope on his own with my younger sister and me. At that time, I found life very chaotic and stressful. I was not receiving help to deal with my problems and was bottling up violence inside me. I was expelled from school for bad behaviour.

My ambition was always to be a pilot in the RAF, but this was turning into nothing more than a dream. Everything I was doing was taking me further from achieving my ambition, but I couldn't see a way out. After about a month of moving to different homes, a long-term foster placement was found with Sue and Roland and their son Freddie. I started a new school but didn't really fit in and found it tough adjusting to a new school and family. But my foster carers gave me time to adjust and were friendly, and slowly things began to change.

After a while with Sue and Roland, I started to settle in, which reflected on my behaviour and achievement at school, to the point where I became head boy in my final year. I also joined the local Air Training Corps squadron, where I felt the environment changed me as I learned to become self-disciplined and mature. However, I feel the No 1 thing was the support and care given to me by Sue and Roland, which encouraged to me do well for them. I am now at college, have retaken my GCSEs and will be doing more courses next year so I can get into university. I am going to do everything I can to become an RAF pilot. You need five GCSEs and two A-levels, but it is really competitive so I am going to get a degree to make sure I get in.

But this chance I have to do something interesting, exciting and fulfilling with my future would not have been possible if it were not for my foster carers. We sat down one day and they explained to me that when I reach 18 they will no longer receive any money to cover the costs of looking after me (the food I eat, the electricity I use, the clothes I wear). But they cared so much about my future that they offered to spend their own money on converting the garage into a bedroom for me. This means they can use my old room to carry on fostering and therefore continue to receive their fostering fees, which they need as part of their family income.

I was really worried about what would happen when I reached 18. Worried that I would be separated from my sister, and that I would have to give up my education, my ambition and my future and be left with a job at Tesco or Homebase and not earn enough to make ends meet. My foster carers have given me a future, but they have had to make big personal sacrifices to do so.

Eighteen is too young to be forced to live on your own. Young people in my situation should be given the chance of a better future. That includes supporting foster carers to keep us on for a few extra years so we can get more qualifications and learn the skills needed for living independently. Those who want to excel in life deserve a chance to excel, and no one should deny us that opportunity. I hope the Government is listening.

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