My name is Lorenzo and I’m a care leaver. I moved into my own flat at age 17, and because I wasn’t old enough for many things, I was instantly submerged in debt. And I was left to survive with only £70 a week for all of my essential bills, as well as paying towards my rent that wasn’t covered by social services. This put huge financial strain on me, that caused me to fall further into debt. Something that to this day, at age 19, I’m still struggling with, making it hard to even put food on the table. I made a video talking about this because I wanted to raise awareness for care leavers in the same predicament like me. I was not taught how to use my money. I was not taught the essential bills and what they needed and what it took to live on your own. I had to live the hard way, and at 17-year-old me being so scared being moved away from Loughborough, the people who I called my friends, the people around me. Were gone as I was moved to a different city right next to the house where my trauma was situated. My Nan is less than a 15-minute walk down the road; we don’t talk. I don’t speak to any of my family, and whenever I try to, they blame me and say I was the reason that I dealt with this. And all of this just kind of combined to ruin everything; on top of that, my paperwork was given to me, and there are two massive folders of my trauma from 2007 to present, everything people taking me apart and that harms me. To the point where they suggested I take medication that didn’t work and caused my mental health to go so far even further because my brain just melted on the medication. I was then hospitalised as I attempted to take my own life because of how alone I felt without anyone, and the hardest thing thinking about was when I was in that hospital, if I was in a situation where I was dying, I would have no one and that would be utterly alone.

On the positive side, I’m slowly getting myself out of there, and most of the money raised will go towards giving me a fair playing field in life and covering my debt. Once my Dad has been covered, I’ll be fine.

And I so wish that there could be a mass fund where other caregivers like me can also get support because there are so many getting failed, and most of them are dying alone.

The worst part is I did the calculation. I chose not to communicate with anyone just to see how long it would take for someone to notice my absence. If I was to die today in my house, it would take approximately four weeks for someone to find me. A more than likely that’s going to be the smell, and that’s more than likely already happened.