From care to carer: The teenager fulfilling her 'dream' after life-changing move to Scotland
A teenager who spent much of her childhood in care has spoken of the way her life has changed since moving to Scotland, and how she is now training to fulfil a “dream” of becoming a carer herself.
Tiffany Cummins was 15 and living in a caravan in Newcastle when she received a call from a social worker to say that she was to relocate to a residential home north of the border.
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Hide AdShe had been in foster care since she was 11, but did not want to be separated from her younger brother and sister, who she helped look after.
Tiffany, who is now 17, said: “The foster placement wasn’t working out in Newcastle. I don’t think they had anywhere to put me in Newcastle. I don’t think there were any residential spaces in Newcastle.
“I suppose at first I didn’t really like it, because I knew I’d be separated from my younger brother and sister. I didn’t want to leave them.
“And I was at school. I had finally started at school, because I wasn’t really good at school. Then my social worker told me I was moving to Scotland.
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Hide Ad“I had been living in a caravan for a few weeks until they found somewhere to go. They just rang me and I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to go.
“The first thing on my mind was, ‘what’s going to happen to my brother and sister, how will I see them?’
“Because to be honest, I thought Scotland was hours and and hours away. It’s only two hours away, but I was just worried about them all the time.”
Tiffany moved into Horizons Residential Care’s Glendale House in Gorebridge, Midlothian, just after her 15th birthday.
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Hide AdThere, she met her key worker Nicola Mann, who started working on a support plan for the youngster, including her education and help to get her through exams.
“It got a bit better when I knew where I was staying, and that I’d still see my brother and sister. I just didn’t like being separated from them,” Tiffany recalled.
“I was used to being moved, so that wasn’t really worrying me. It was the fact it was a residential, so there was a few more kids here.
“I didn’t really want to interact with people, but the staff were really nice when I came here, and they still are.
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Hide Ad“I was doing online education. That was really hard, because I still had to do the exams in Newcastle. I was travelling backwards and forwards.”
Ms Mann contacted Mark Harrison, a local Skills Development Scotland careers adviser, to see what he could put in place to help Tiffany build confidence and a new life for herself.
Mr Harrison said: “Tiffany told me she had two interests; social care and childcare. This was mainly down to her own experience and she wanted to help other people in situations like hers.”
He suggested that Tiffany get some experience of working in care and got in touch with Volunteer Midlothian, which runs the Transform Project for young people from 14-years-old, and also helped her prepare for an informal interview for a placement at Woodburn Primary after-school club.
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Hide AdTiffany said: “I loved being around the kids at the afterschool club, making sure they were happy and playing games. I had been looking after my brother and sister from a young age, so I was used to dealing with a lot of the things that would happen there.”
Mr Harrison also introduced Tiffany to the Y2K project to give her the opportunity to socialise with other young people.
Following the after-school club, she moved to another volunteer programme that she still supports, organising activities for elderly people in a residential care home.
Tiffany said: “After supporting young people, it’s been great to get experience of supporting elderly people, which has really helped me to understand the type of job I’d like to do in the future.
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Hide Ad“I enjoy volunteering at the residential home because the residents are so kind and chatty and I organise things like board games and quizzes for them.”
Having enrolled on to an introductory course at Edinburgh College last January, Tiffany has progressed to studying towards a career in social services.


She said: “I didn’t really enjoy school, but I really like college because I got to choose what I wanted to do.
“I’m working towards an HNC qualification and my plan is to go to university to get a degree.”
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Hide AdShe added: “I love it actually. I want to be a social worker for children and families. I want to become a social worker in Scotland, and just stay here.”
After 100 hours volunteering Tiffany was nominated for the Scottish Government’s Saltire Awards for youth volunteering, and she picked up a gong.
She has now been put forward for the Midlothian Young People’s Awards for the contribution she has made to her community.
Ms Mann said: “From the wee lassie we got in, compared to today, the difference in Tiffany is down to a joint effort from all those who have supported her. But Tiffany put the effort in to succeed and take opportunities.”
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Hide AdReflecting on the way her life has turned around, Tiffany said: “I didn’t have much confidence. I didn’t really do much. I struggled to make friends.
“And then as I moved up here, all of a sudden it just changed and I have more confidence. I have friends and stuff.”
She added: “I would say to others in a situation like mine that they should take all the help available and, with that support, you can do anything - if you have a dream.”
Tiffany spoke to The Scotsman at the start of Scottish Careers Week, which runs throughout this week, from today.
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