This week (week commencing 24 November) is National Light Up Week, part of this years National Care Leavers Month. A week when notable buildings across the UK, such as The London Eye, Blackpool Tower and the Channel 4 offices are lighting up in the Care Leavers Covenant Blue for the entire week to mark the event.

Our parent charity ambassador Dez Derry, is a keen supporter of the month.

Dez entered the care system as a child after suffering neglect and abuse, before being fostered and adopted along with his two brothers. They were among the first Asian sibling groups to be adopted by white parents in the 1980s.

After leaving school at 16 Dez spent years bouncing from job to job, including working on production lines, in warehouses, and a salt and vinegar factory then in door-to-door double glazing sales. It’s there he discovered he had people skills and an ability to build relationships.

He went on to found the Manchester digital agency mmadigital, which grew into Blume and was acquired in 2022. Today he is an investor in a number of businesses and is as an ambassador for the charity Adoption Matters, encouraging more families to consider adoption and fostering, particularly of sibling groups and children from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Dez comments:

“The theme for this year’s Care Leavers Month — ‘Rising as Me, Overcoming Challenges, Transforming and Finding Your Identity’ — deeply resonates with my own journey. I was fortunate to leave care through adoption and to find a loving family, but I remain passionate about reaching young people who may feel hopeless or uncertain about their future.

Although I left school with few qualifications, I know now that they do not define who you are or what you can achieve. My story is proof that with resilience, support, and self-belief, every young person has the power to rise above challenges, transform their path, and embrace their true identity.

When I eventually found what I was good at, I had to graft for it. The most successful people I’ve met in business, sport and politics all have one thing in common — work ethic”.

To find out more about fostering, download a fostering information guide here.