Before the clock runs out…

When you grow up in residential care, you know from a young age that there’s a deadline for when it all ends.

The day you turn 18 is the day the system stops.

Mia’s Story

She could see the cliff drop years before it happened.

For young people growing up in residential care, turning 18 isn’t something to celebrate. It’s a hard stop deadline.

The state system that housed them, fed them, and kept them safe ends, and it ends formally and definitively on their 18th birthday. What comes next is entirely up to them. Except most of them have never been prepared for it.

No rental history. No financial literacy. No consistent adult in their corner. No safety net.

Around half of all young people in residential care will experience some form of homelessness within three years of leaving state care.

Mia grew up knowing that date was coming. She just didn’t know what would be waiting on the other side of it. When she arrived at Anchor’s MyLife program still a teenager, and still in care, one of the first questions she asked her youth worker was a simple:

“How do I turn the oven on?”

No one had ever shown her. Because in her own words, no one cared enough about her to show her.

At MyLife, she finally had time, consistency, and people who didn’t come into her life one day and leave the next. She slowly learned to cook, to budget, to speak to landlords, and to ask for help without expecting it to disappear.

Two years later, Mia signed a lease. In her own name.

“At that moment.. I truly felt reborn.”

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$250

Your gift will provide curtains and blinds for one bedroom, the very detail that converts four walls into a private space, and transforms an empty room into something that finally feels like home for a young person.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$500

Your gift contributes toward a complete private bathroom for one young person, which includes individual shower fixtures, a basin, and a toilet suite. For young people leaving residential care, it is often the first one they have ever had.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$1,500

Your gift will fit out a complete bedroom in the new Hub, which includes vinyl flooring, a built-in wardrobe, and the basics that make a room liveable. For a young person who has never had a permanent space, this is where two years of stability begins.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$250

Your gift will provide curtains and blinds for one bedroom, the very detail that converts four walls into a private space, and transforms an empty room into something that finally feels like home for a young person.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$500

Your gift contributes toward a complete private bathroom for one young person, which includes individual shower fixtures, a basin, and a toilet suite. For young people leaving residential care, it is often the first one they have ever had.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$1,500

Your gift will fit out a complete bedroom in the new Hub, which includes vinyl flooring, a built-in wardrobe, and the basics that make a room liveable. For a young person who has never had a permanent space, this is where two years of stability begins.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$250

Your gift will provide curtains and blinds for one bedroom, the very detail that converts four walls into a private space, and transforms an empty room into something that finally feels like home for a young person.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$500

Your gift contributes toward a complete private bathroom for one young person, which includes individual shower fixtures, a basin, and a toilet suite. For young people leaving residential care, it is often the first one they have ever had.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$1,500

Your gift will fit out a complete bedroom in the new Hub, which includes vinyl flooring, a built-in wardrobe, and the basics that make a room liveable. For a young person who has never had a permanent space, this is where two years of stability begins.

How you can help

Help open these doors before 30 June.

We need to raise $350,000 before 30 June 2026 to complete the refurbishment and open the Hub. Whatever you give goes directly toward making these units safe, liveable, and ready for young people like Mia.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$250

Your gift will provide curtains and blinds for one bedroom, the very detail that converts four walls into a private space, and transforms an empty room into something that finally feels like home for a young person.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$500

Your gift contributes toward a complete private bathroom for one young person, which includes individual shower fixtures, a basin, and a toilet suite. For young people leaving residential care, it is often the first one they have ever had.

Contribute directly to the refurbishment of Anchor’s new MyLife Hub with

$1,500

Your gift will fit out a complete bedroom in the new Hub, which includes vinyl flooring, a built-in wardrobe, and the basics that make a room liveable. For a young person who has never had a permanent space, this is where two years of stability begins.