No one should read their care records alone.
I'm Matthew. I started One Set of Footprints CIC after reading my own care records with no one beside me. This is a place where you don't have to do that. I'll sit with you through it, at your pace, for free.
Why this exists
Born from reading my records alone. Built so the next person doesn't have to.
When my files landed on the mat, I opened them by myself. Inside was a history of abuse and neglect I hadn't known about, four files, all mixed up, decades old. There was no social worker, no therapist, no one. I started One Set of Footprints CIC so nobody else has to sit with that on their own.
What I do
Free support, when you need it
Everything I offer is free. Nobody should have to pay to understand their own past. If you want help asking for your records, someone with you when they arrive, or a quiet chat afterwards, that's what I'm here for.
"My records told me what happened. The hardest part was having no one there while I read them. I don't want that for anyone else."
Matthew, founder
Built from lived experience
No one should walk this path alone.
I know what it feels like to open your file and have no one there. I started this because I needed it and it didn't exist. Now I do my best to be the person I wish had been in the room with me.
"We all carry our younger selves. Mine is the reason this exists, so care experienced people and adopted adults have someone alongside them on the way to healing."
Care records support
I'll help you ask for your records, and I'll sit with you when they arrive. No fee, no rush, no pressure.
Learn moreThe podcast
Honest chats about care and adoption, told by the people who've lived it. That's where all of this started.
Learn moreChanging the system
I work with social workers, therapists and policy people so that proper support becomes normal, not rare.
Learn moreThe podcast
"Footprints", the stories the system never told you.
Real stories, told honestly
Every episode I sit down with someone who's lived through the care system, or someone trying to change it from the inside. No polish, no script. Just proper conversations.
Listen to the latest episodes"My records told me what happened. The hardest part was having no one there to help me make sense of it."
Matthew, founder
Work in social care, therapy or advocacy?
I'm slowly building a small circle of people who want to make the moment someone reads their records feel safer and less lonely. If that sounds like you, I'd love to hear from you.