Sarah Allerton
Legacy Marketing Manager, Action for Children
Gifts in wills help make sure support is there when it’s needed.
Every 15 minutes, a child goes into care in the UK. From that moment, the world can see them differently — but we don’t. We have been helping children in care since we were founded over 155 years ago. Today, thanks to amazing supporters like you, we help over 50,000 children and young people in, or with experience of, the care system.
Practical support for children in care
A quarter of our donations come from gifts in wills. It is because of generous donations like these that we are able to provide safe and happy childhoods for young people — like Charlie.
From the age of six, he was placed in and out of foster care before going to live with his dad. However, this was not the stable, safe home life he had hoped for. Action for Children’s Guernsey Youth Housing service supports young care-experienced people. We came into Charlie’s life when he was 15 and struggling to live at home while identifying as a trans man.
Things reached a breaking point when Charlie’s dad kicked him out of the house. We provided emergency homelessness accommodation through the Nightstop Service, as well as emotional and practical support, including with his gender transition.
A quarter of our donations come from gifts in wills.
Safe space for children’s journeys
Charlie explains: “Dad wouldn’t let me get help from any kind of service until Action for Children came along. We’d talk about my home life, and it was a safe space to talk about things while my father wouldn’t let me see a doctor about it.”
Charlie was then placed back into foster care, giving him the stability he really needed. Now, he is looking forward to the future. He has just started university and wants to continue his activism work and public speaking. “Alongside my studies, I really want to do a programme for the homeless, and I am really excited to work with the charity in the future.”
Leave a gift in your will for vulnerable children
By leaving a gift in your will to Action for Children, you could support our work as a vital lifeline for families.
Learn more at actionforchildren.org.uk/brighterfutures
Action for Children, whose registered address is 3 The Boulevard, Ascot Road, Watford WD18 8AG is registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee in England and Wales under number 04764232. Registered charity numbers 1097940/SC038092 © Action for Children 2024.
