Lisa was 21 when she realised that she needed additional support in caring for her baby. Lisa had spent most of her teenage years in foster care and had no real support from her birth family.  She realised that the constant arguing with her partner was not what she wanted for her or her daughter.

“Evie was 12 weeks old when I knew that I had to change things. I had had another row with her dad. The police had been called and I left his flat. I had nowhere to go so I was staying on a friend’s sofa and Evie slept in her pram. It wasn’t the best thing for me or Evie. Not really.

I already had a social worker and when she talked about me and Evie going to live with a foster family, I really didn’t like the thought of it. I didn’t have much of a choice in the end, so I agreed.

I was really unhappy about it to start with but soon realised that I just had to prove I could do it on my own. The thing is though, I didn’t have to do it on my own. The whole family helped me work out that Evie was the most important thing. I did it for her. After a couple of months, I moved out into my own flat and started making a home for me and Evie, like a proper family."