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Help a homeless young person attend Autscape
Tarporley, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We are raising the money necessary to bring an LGBTQ autistic teenager who will soon be in our care to Autscape
The circumstances
My family will soon be caring for a queer neurodivergent young person (under 18) who has had to leave their home due to mistreatment. They have no home, no money, support needs, mental health difficulties, and are currently relying on friends for shelter and support. We need to raise money to come with our family to Autscape, and to attend a Quaker young people's summer event.
Why Autscape is a priority
Coming to Autscape will allow this young person to:
- Be safe and cared for. (They have care needs and can’t be left alone for long periods.)
- Connect with autistic community for the first time
- Have relief from stressful circumstances
- Learn about being an autistic person
- Enjoy themselves for a while
Why they need funding
- The young person was prevented from opening a bank account until recently by obstructive family and unreliable social worker.
- Their only income is a small amount of Personal Independence Payment which has to be used for transport and other costs.
- They have no income related benefits to pay for living expenses. Applications are complicated due to their age and the social worker has not helped with this.
- I will not be paid to care for them because the placement is informal. As a family, we all attend Autscape, and we can't leave them alone while we are away. We will already be covering their living expenses while here and would struggle to pay for another person’s Autscape fees.
- I will apply for a bursary from Autscape, but that is not guaranteed and only covers part of the cost.
Further details
This isn’t just a case of ‘teenager not getting along with parents’. They have mental health effects of prolonged stress/trauma in addition to being queer, autistic and ADHD. They have a social worker who is working on permanent supported housing, benefits, etc., but this is prone to the delays and uncertainties that these things typically are. The young person is a friend of my child’s, which is how they are ending up staying here. We now expect to have them for up to a few months, but this is longer than the original plan and is now expected to overlap with holidays we have already booked, but cannot easily afford an additional person.
Excess funds
Extra money raised will go to also sending them on a Quaker event with my children for similar reasons, and any surplus beyond that will be donated to Autscape.
This project successfully funded on 15th July 2022