Hi, I’m Tayla and I’m chatting with you on behalf of MacKillop for Care Day. I grew up in residential units from the ages of 12 – 18 and I’m now 27 years old and living in Brunswick with my cat.
Living in residential units and in out of home care certainly brought with it a lot of opportunities for growth in ways that I’m really proud to be now but it definitely brought a lot with it a lot of challenges as well. One of the most prominent was engaging in education. I’m lucky enough now that I’m able to reengage with higher education, but there’s so many people that went through the same system as I did that sadly never had that opportunity.
Throughout care, I had plenty of great carers who believed in my and supported my journey, and I’m really grateful to them because it’s led me back to this point now to a place in my life in where I’m able to complete what I like to call the ‘Circle of Care’, where I’m afforded the opportunity to talk to everyone and make them understand what the experiences of someone who has gone through the system could be like and the unique challenges that they face.
I’m really passionate about making sure every child is afforded the same opportunities whether or not they grow up in a traditional family home or the out of home care system. I guess that’s why I’m such as big advocate for the Raise the Age campaign as well extending the housing opportunities for children who have come out of the care system.