CASPA house leader Jayde McMurray, 25, said her experience growing up in the foster care system was hard.

“I never felt like I belonged anywhere and was moved around to different foster homes constantly,” Jayde said. “It was difficult getting to know and trusting new people all the time.”

But Jayde said it was these experiences that gave her the strength and compassion she needed to help and mentor other young people in care.

In July this year, Jayde won the Outstanding Young Employee award at the Lismore Business Awards. In October, she’s off to the regional business awards and if she wins that, she’ll make the national awards.

Jayde said she was happy to be nominated for her work at CASPA because she wanted to make the public more aware of the important work CASPA does.

“We take some of the most traumatised kids in NSW that no one else will take and we don’t give up – ever,” Jayde said.

CASPA is a not-for-profit organisation providing a range of specialised care services for youth with complex needs and for people with disabilities. A large part of CASPA’s work is providing residential care and support for young people in the foster system. 

“I think people don’t understand what we do,” Jayde said. “These kids are often seen as dysfunctional in our community and I want people to see them in a more positive light.

Jayde started working at CASPA two and a half years ago as a youth worker, before becoming a house leader and looking after the residential support services.

“I have two houses, ten staff and one or two young people in each house,” Jayde said. “I support the staff and young people and make sure everything runs smoothly.

Jayde said when she was in foster care, it was her team leader who looked after her who was one of her greatest inspirations. 

“When I had my first child, she fostered me and she never gave up and pushed me for a lot of years,” Jayde said “Without her I wouldn’t be alive. It took that one person to see something in me that I couldn’t see in myself.

“She’s still my mum.

“You need to be a strong person to be a carer in a mentoring role.

“For these kids who are in and out of care, they have so many people in and out of their lives, that nothing feels permanent and they feel that they don’t belong or are not valued.”

Because she moved around so much in the foster care system, Jayde did most of her high school education through distance education, and then left school in year 10.

“I didn’t stick with education and realised importance of it as I got older,” Jayde said.

“I say to kids that now it seems like a burden, but when you are older, you’ll be thankful you did it.

“Distance education is hard because there’s no social side of life. A lot of kids here are not supported in the mainstream school system at all. They then go and find alternative peer groups – probably not the best type of people and no one their own age.

By the time Jayde was 22, she had two children and was working in retail jobs - until she decided to change her path. She went to TAFE and studied Certificate 4 in Community Services, realising she wanted to help people. A year later, she applied for a job at CASPA.

“I’m still doing my diploma and working full time with three kids - it’s hard,” Jayde said.

“I don’t think I can do anything else with my life - I understand where the kids are at.

“I talk to them and empathise with them.

“A massive part of their healing is to be accepted in the community, but they are looked at like they are naughty kids.

“All they want is to be accepted and have somewhere they feel like they belong.

“These kids have been through the most unimaginable traumas in their life. 

“They have been though every kind of abuse a human could be subject to and they can’t help it.

“They missed out on the vital parts of life – of having a mum and dad.

“They are running in survival mode, their brains are always on high alert and their behaviours are pain based.

“These behaviours have kept them alive and they will continue to do it until they have the right people and acceptance.”

“If we can educate people in our community about trauma, then they will be able to understand these kids so much more.”

To find out more information about CASPA, visit https://www.caspa.asn.au/