FAQ Category: From Children and Young People

“You make real friends’”- Luke

In my [biological] family there wasn’t a lot of time you’d spend with your brothers and sisters and you wouldn’t get an opportunity to do a lot of stuff. So being at Tom’s gave me…

“(I was) acknowledged by people that don’t owe me one single thing but treat me like their own.” – Kimberley

I just had this kind of huge family existence … that’s what resonates for me the most. Just being completely acknowledged by people that don’t owe me one single thing but treat me like their…

“They were so welcoming… It’s like having a completely different second family” – Sam

Oh, it was really good. Yeah, they were so welcoming and stuff. It was like a really good boost of confidence to be able to stay with them. They just made you feel somehow that…

“It makes you feel really good about yourself” – Lizzy

You kind of learn a lot of new skills seeing people that you haven’t before. Like … more communications skills and things like that. And just being positive and being able to, you know, go…

“They just wanted to help out a random kid… It’s a real good thing” – Ryan

So, going there … they were genuine people. They weren’t doing it for the money or anything else. They just wanted to help out a random kid. Whereas in foster care, they made me feel…

“I just loved going there” – Carly

It was just completely stimulating and I just loved going there and I got so excited and it was not even like a holiday house. It was just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to … my…

“They were role models to me” – David

It was great, what I saw. I got to see what the dynamic [of a family] was – what they were like as parents. They were role models to me, and to how a family…