Testimonials

Mum-of-one Sarah World is in no doubt where she would be now if it wasn't for local charity, Save the Family.

"I'd be in prison, my precious daughter would have been taken into care and my life would effectively be over," she says. "I might even have died from a drugs overdose."

Save the Family provides emergency accommodation for homeless families from throughout the North West at Plas Bellin, Northop Hall, North Wales, and delivers education, training, work experience, and the life skills necessary to enable families and individuals to resettle into the wider community.

Sarah, 32, has been resident at Plas Bellin for several months and is a doting mum to three-year-old Casey-Lou.

During her stay, the Save the Family team has enabled Sarah to achieve two administration qualifications, and she is about to embark on a third to boost her employment prospects. She's also an active member of the STF drama group which has helped her confidence.

"Save The Family has helped me turn my life around. I've stopped blaming the world for my problems and accepted that I can shape my own future."

Sarah's story could have ended very differently.

Originally from the West Midlands, she spent many of her formative years in care and later became trapped in an abusive relationship, and a mother of two young children. 

Desperate to escape from the violence and protect her children, Sarah took the painful decision to place her children in care for their own protection.

Faced with the reality of life without her children by her side, Sarah's life spiralled further out of control as she turned to drugs, developing an addiction to heroin and crack cocaine.

"When I was taking the drugs, the fact that my children were in care didn't register. It was an escape, a form of denial," she says.

As the grip of her addiction became even tighter, Sarah saw less and less of her children and they were eventually adopted.

Sarah went to live in North Wales in a bid to escape the drugs scene that had all but destroyed her life. She formed a new relationship and became pregnant with Casey Lou.

Sarah fell to temptation and once again found herself taking and dealing drugs.

"Although I had started to use again, I made sure Casey Lou was well looked after. She was my priority - she was fed, clothed and loved. I was determined she would not go into care and that I wouldn't end up in the same situation as last time," she explains.