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.”
THE SOLUTION
Anchor’s MyLife model is specifically designed to provide tailored transitional support for young people aged 16 to 18 leaving residential care, where each participant lives in a self-contained unit with access to experienced youth workers who help them build the practical skills and confidence needed for adult life.
It is a simple idea, but it relies on something very specific as a starting point: a proper place to live.
MyLife works because it gives young people what they’ve never consistently had: time, stability, and adults who remain present.
The only thing that limits how many people it can reach is property.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Anchor is opening a fourth MyLife Hub in Melbourne’s South East: six to eight self-contained units for young people transitioning from residential care just like Mia.
The property is secured. The program is fully funded by government once the Hub is operational. What’s needed to open the doors is the final refurbishment. That’s where you and the community comes in.
The Hub at a glance
Every dollar raised now will create a decade of stable housing for young people who have nowhere else to turn.
The partnership
This is what community looks like.
The new MyLife Hub is not a solo effort. Two partners are already at the table, each contributing what they do best.
Significant contributions are already in place, with the remaining gap at $350,000.
Your donation completes the picture, and we invite you to put the finishing touch on something already proven.
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.
The Impact
Mia’s story doesn’t have to be the exception.
Over five years, every young person who has completed the MyLife program has moved into stable housing. Not one has exited into homelessness.
That record exists because the right places exist. The South East Hub is the next one. And 30 June is the moment to make it real.
Donations are tax-deductible.
Anchor is a registered not-for-profit charity. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.
