After Care Support

See below for a brief description of our contributors:

1. Ed Nixon initiated his career as a social worker, progressing over 26 years to become the Service Manager for children in care at a local authority. He later served as CEO of a company offering integrated residential care, education, and fostering services. Post-retirement, Ed leveraged his expertise as a social work consultant and Deputy CEO of the Independent Children’s Association. Since 2013, he has chaired the 'Every Child Leaving Care Matters' campaign, also serving on the advisory board of Career Matters and the board of Pure Insight, a Care Leavers Support charity. Additionally, he associates with the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care, promoting high-quality care standards.

2. Isabelle Kirkham, a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, uses her passion for creativity and change to challenge narratives surrounding care-experienced individuals. Having spent much of her life in the care system, she actively confronts associated stigmas through platforms like Twitter, blogs, and books. She is involved in projects such as 'Reclaim Care', a collective focusing on shared healing and understanding, and 'Us to You', a spoken word response to labels placed on care-experienced individuals. Isabelle is committed to improving life for all those with similar experiences.

3. Jean Templeton is the Chief Executive of St Basils, a charity and Youth Housing Association combating youth homelessness in the West Midlands. Under her leadership, St Basils has created national frameworks, such as the Positive Pathway, the Care Leaver Accommodation and Support Framework, and the Youth Justice Accommodation Framework to aid local authorities in preventing youth homelessness  (stbasils.org.uk). Besides her role at St Basils, Jean chairs the West Midlands’ Combined Authority Homelessness Taskforce, serves on the Government’s Advisory Panel on Rough Sleeping and Homelessness, and leads the national Youth Homelessness Parliament, reinforcing her commitment to combating homelessness at multiple levels.