Students in higher education without family support – responding to coronavirus (Covid-19)

Become is working with Stand Alone, the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) and the Unite Foundation to understand what challenges students in higher education without family support are currently facing, and what we and others can do to help.

The situation with the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) is rapidly changing and we are conscious that this is a time of great uncertainty for everyone. We’re keen to understand how individual students, and how students without family support collectively, are feeling during this time and what good support would look like to them.

If you’re a care-experienced or estranged student studying higher education at college or university, we’d be grateful if you could complete our survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/studentsurveycareestranged

Results will be shared with those who complete the survey and key organisations who can help us to improve the support which care-experienced and estranged students receive.

I’m a student with no family support – who can I talk to for advice and support?

Become is the national charity for children in care and young care leavers. Our coronvarius advice page for care-experienced young people can be found at https://becomecharity.org.uk/coronavirus. If you’ve got questions about the impact of coronavirus on the care you’re receiving, want some personal advice, or just need someone to talk to, you can get in touch with us on 0800 023 2033 or at [email protected].

Stand Alone is here to support adults that are estranged from their family or key family member. If you’d like some further information on where you can turn to find support or meet others in a similar position, you can visit https://www.standalone.org.uk/contact/.

If you’re a current care-experienced or estranged student, you can also contact your college or university for advice and support, especially if you’re living alone or in university accommodation. If you don’t know who to get in touch with, the named contacts for care-experienced students can be found at https://propel.org.uk and for estranged students at https://www.standalone.org.uk/students/supportatyouruniversity/

If you’re care-experienced and based in Scotland, you can contact Who Cares? Scotland: https://www.whocaresscotland.org/coronavirus-support/

If you’re care-experienced and based in Wales, you can contact Voices From Care Cymru: http://vfcc.org.uk/

If you’re care-experienced and based in Northern Ireland, you can contact VOYPIC: http://www.voypic.org/