Hi, my name is Tayla. I'm 26 years old and I moved out of home when I was 12. I first moved into a foster home and then after that I moved into residential care. My family life was pretty disrupted. I lived with a single mom who had a lot of her own struggles and together we were finding it hard as a family unit. Being in residential care, your education is constantly disrupted. I lived in over 10 houses throughout my time in care and went to more than four high schools. At one point I was moved to Dandenong North when I was going to school in Beaumaris, and even though I was leaving the house at 4:30 in the morning, that trip meant that I was 15 minutes late to school every day. Coming home every day after doing these massive trips to you know a house where everyone was having their own educational struggles eventually left me feeling pretty depleted. And eventually Sue came over and invited me to come and stay at her house in MacKillop and when I went to MacKillop, I was 13 and it was like coming a family environment again. There was always an open door policy. It was always a great meal on the table. She was supportive, wanted to help me do my homework, get to and from school and achieve all of the goals that I set for myself.
As soon as she walked through she got the feeling that MacKillop was a home, that we cared for the kids lived in the house. She soon found that our environment was loving, caring, and nurturing.
I was once taken out to buy a new pair of jeans and they were white and brand new and looks great. And I came home and within five minutes I had drawn all over them in a variety of different colours of permanent markers. And while some parents may have been upset or you know, that they've spent all this money on this brand new pair of jeans, that I very promptly destroyed. Sue congratulated and encouraged my creativity and that has continued on with me throughout my adult life and allowed me to get to where I am and achieve the things that I have been able to achieve today.
We try to provide through community support a lot of extra life skills that helps them to adjust when they have to leave care. When I left care, within the first three years I was homeless twice. I was really passionate about re-entering education but as a 17 year old I didn't have the monetary support behind me to be able to do that. When I re-entered education I undertook a Diploma of Event Management at Victoria Polytechnic. Having completed that last year I was then accepted into Deakin University, going forward doing a Bachelor of Business with a major in event management. When I started my deployment of event management, I was presented with an opportunity to pitch a charity fundraiser which I did in support of MacKillop Family Services. The reason I did that is because it's so important that we still have the community services around it to afford people like me the opportunity to come back eight years later and hold a fundraiser to raise money for that same organisation.
Whilst MacKillop always try and provide a stable home, nothing can replace your own family, nothing. And these kids do live without their family. And we find that if we provide care for their families as well, to come and visit to do outings, it makes life so much easier. And it's helped a lot with the reconnection that Tayla has with her family.
Through the love and care that MacKillop's provided me while I was in care, and through the support that I got reuniting with my family, I'm now 26 years old and happy to say I have a great relationship with my mom, and I have two beautiful little half sisters who have the privilege of getting to babysit and see on a regular basis, and I wouldn't have been able to achieve any of those kinds of family connections without all the tools that MacKillop have provided me throughout my time and care.