Community Lens Podcast: understanding the experiences of Care Leavers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight 

In this episode of the HIWCF Community Lens podcast, CEO Jacqui Scott speaks with two guests who bring both professional insight and lived experience to the topic of young people leaving the care system: Kirsty Robertson, CEO of Motiv8, and Liz Hubbuck, Youth Engagement Manager at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner.

Motiv8 is one of the organisations that HIWCF has funded through its three-year funding programme for local care leavers – a partnership with LAMIT (a group of Local Authorities working together through one of our investment firms, CCLA) and Sovereign Network Group (SNG).

In this conversation, Jacqui, Liz and Kirsty explore the funding gaps and the challenges faced by young people who experience the care system as they are growing up, and how childhood adversity can shape adult life. Liz shares her own journey of entering foster care as a teenager, navigating instability, and moving into adulthood without the support networks that many peers take for granted. She reflects on the emotional impact of leaving care, the stigma attached to the care system, and the resilience that many care-experienced young people develop – what she describes as a “superpower”.

Kirsty highlights the work of Motiv8 and the Hampshire Care Council, where care-experienced young people come together to influence change and tackle the stigma they face in schools and communities. Both guests discuss some of the common misunderstandings around what it means for a child to be taken into care, emphasising that it is always a last resort and follows significant concerns about safety or wellbeing.

Through deeply personal insights and frontline experience, this episode sheds light on the realities of being a care leaver, the importance of early emotional support, and the need to champion the voices of young people who too often feel unheard.