Amanda Knowles MBE was just 18 years old when she became a housemother in a local authority children’s home. She has been working with care experienced children for 45 years as a caregiver in various settings including children’s residential care, fostering, social work, and supported accommodation for care leavers. 

 

" I began my career working in small children's homes and became a foster mum aged 22. A decade later in 1987 I qualified as a social worker. Since 1991 I have worked in senior management positions in children’s social care, and I have became a provider of children's social care services in the independent sector in 2003. 

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In 2017 I organised the first Your Life Your Story Event to amplify the voices of care experienced adults and caregivers through storytelling. Whether writing for cathartic reasons, for the record, or to become published, Your Life Your Story offers a living-learning experience that unleashes the power of relationships and the untold story.

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Memoirs of a Caregiver is a reflection on my personal journey across five decades of the British care system as a caregiver with the children who experienced that system that I met along the way and the adults they become."