When a young person stands on the threshold of adulthood with more fear than confidence, they need someone to reach out a hand. It is precisely for those on the boundary between residential care and the challenges of adult life that the Foundation for Good Initiatives designed a pilot project—the Support Group for care-leavers. A safe stopover on the road to full independence. Today we summarise how the pilot went and what we learned from meeting these young people.

A Difficult Start

The project did not begin smoothly. At first, there were too few applicants; then came the disappointment that not everyone would see it through. In December, however, we managed to form a group of twelve young people who decided to give it a try. Nine participants came to the first meeting in January.

How Do You Find a Sense of Safety?

The project ran from January to the end of June 2025 and was framed by two in-person gatherings in Warsaw. We designed it this way to give participants, from the very first meeting, a sense of safety and space to build relationships, and at the closing session to help them reflect on the ground they had covered. Between these events, twenty-two online meetings took place, allowing young people aged eighteen to twenty-three to share their experiences regularly and support one another, while learning trust and responsibility. Each week they logged in with the facilitators and the group, and committed to a jointly agreed code of conduct. For those with difficult—often traumatic—histories, this was neither natural nor easy. Behind their stories lie experiences that have entrenched mistrust of adults, of rules, and of the world.

In the end-of-project surveys, participants stressed that what mattered most was the sense of safety and acceptance created by the facilitators together with the group. For young people with experience of foster care, this is especially valuable: many had the chance, often for the first time, to feel important and heard. The fact that all participants said they would recommend the group to others in similar circumstances is the project’s greatest success. It shows that such spaces are worth building—even if trust grows slowly.

“For young people from foster care, a Support Group can be a place to experience a close and safe relationship. Why? Because those who have lived in neglecting environments may unconsciously seek to repeat the only pattern they know. They find themselves in settings where it is hard to form safe relationships, where you have to rely solely on yourself, and where, instead of support, you receive violence. Our aim with the Support Group for care-leavers is to offer a space where young people discover that different relationships are possible, that loneliness is not the only remedy for pain, and that human connections can be a source of strength and confidence,” emphasises Katarzyna Salmanowicz, psychotherapist and Head of Social and Educational Projects at the Foundation for Good Initiatives.

The Fruits of the Support Group: Courage and Motivation

Over the course of the project, the Support Group bore its first fruits in the form of participants’ bold decisions—and the belief that they could carry them through. Some chose to leave their institutions and start living independently. Others began psychotherapy to examine their emotions and challenges more deeply. Some will be able to join personalised, long-term support programmes run by our Foundation. Each participant could also access further assistance which, for many, proved crucial in sustaining their hopes for independence.

“A great value for the Group was seeing others go through the process of leaving care. It offered hope and built motivation to make one’s own decisions. Participants genuinely supported one another. Important, relevant, and helpful advice was shared—so the group’s core purpose was fulfilled,” concludes an FDI psychotherapist.

It’s Worth Trying

Six months of the Support Group for care-leavers is proof that it is worth trying, even when not everything goes to plan. These young people showed a quiet courage—often invisible to the naked eye and easy to miss in statistics. Even if trust takes time to build, watching our beneficiaries blossom over successive meetings convinces us that the project is well worth continuing in future editions. Every young person deserves someone to turn to in difficult moments—and someone they can trust.