Estranged Students and Care Leavers are often referred to as estranged. The term 'estranged' refers to a person who is no longer in contact or alienated from their family both physically and emotionally. This lack of support network can contribute to a lack of financial stability causing an estranged person to have trouble finding stable accommodation and could cause them to struggle to keep up with workload from education providers while working enough hours to support themselves. This in turn may affect them in the forms of low attendance, low quality assessment submissions or feeling generally overwhelmed by the workload.
All of these issues combined can make estranged people extremely vulnerable to mental health conditions and leave them feeling isolated, especially during major annual holidays. When a person becomes estranged, university can no longer feel like an option either due to unstable finances, lack of time or general imbalance in life. Here at the University of Portsmouth, it is our mission to ensure that every student has an equal opportunity to challenge themselves and pursue any aspirations they have. The University has a variety of resources available to ensure estranged students have all possible opportunities to succeed.
Key Dates
Estranged Students Solidarity Week - From 24th-30th November a national campaign for universities, colleges, student unions and higher education sectors is held to raise awareness for estranged students, fight the stigma around estranged students and what support is available to them by arranging in person events. These events can be workshops aimed towards estranged students or allies or a social event for networking estranged students.
You can look at one of the University's previous articles that was published in 2023 with 'The Guardian' during the last Estranged Students Solidarity Week.
EaCES (Estranged and Care Estranged Students)
EaCES is a peer support network that supports resources and guidance for students who are affected by estrangement as well as staff for are wanting to understand more about estranged students and how to help.
A group of 90 estranged students came together to write a handbook by students for students however this handbook covers over 30 topics all of which are informative and helpful to anyone who is growing up with limited family support.
