Karen Littlejohn was brought up in care but is now on the career ladder to greater things. She now gives young people the benefit of her experiences

For most of my childhood I was brought up in care but it didn’t stop me having ambitions and wanting to succeed in life. It was probably the opposite, making me strive for more and fight that much harder than others for what they saw as the basics in life: a family, a decent education, a job, money.

I’ve never really had a family as such. I have no sisters and I’ve had more than 15 different foster families look after me, many of which I remain in contact. Still I’m grateful for what I’ve got and proud of who I am.

When the government’s Future Jobs Scotland scheme (the forerunner to Community Jobs Scotland) was launched I was one of the first to participate. It was my first job. I worked with the charity Starter Packs helping new tenants furnish their homes and I loved it.

In 2011 I was asked by the Scottish Government to give a talk to the welfare committee on the scheme and my experiences. It was nerve wracking at first but I soon realised I was just talking about my experiences and became more confident.

I now volunteer as a care ambassador where I coach and motivate young people from or in a care background to be all they can be and make the most out of their lives.

It’s vital when you feel different from others to have positive role models. I tell young people to work on their goals and be decisive. There’s no reason they can’t succeed better than others.

Since being given a start on the scheme, I’ve always been in work. I now work as a teaching assistant and volunteer for Self Start which offers motivational training for young people.

One of the best pieces of advice I give is not for young people but to those in charge of young people. I tell them my own experience and say that unless you afford young people responsibility, and encourage them to achieve, then they’ll never stand on their own two feet. John Swinnie wrote me a personal letter asking me to the Scottish Parliament to tell MSPs about my experiences and that one letter, I believe, changed my life.

Adults have a responsibility themselves to positively encourage young people to succeed in life. It’s interesting that a lot of stories tell how young people in care suffer because of a lack of life chances. But my experiences tell me these young people are often far more receptive to making a go of the few life chances that come their way than their contemporaries growing up in normal families.

Neither is care always a bad thing. The problem is other people think it is. Growing up in care means you face a lot of barriers in life and discrimination is part of this. It’s definitely not something I’d recommend you put in a CV until, that is, you’re a bit better established in life.

You shouldn’t ever let go of your goals. The biggest thing in my life was getting a job. Once I achieved that I wanted to do more, be better, and progress my career. That’s still very much work in progress but I believe your ambitions are only as unrealistic as you want to make them.

Community Jobs Scotland is the programme that replaced Future Jobs Fund. It is currently advertising a number of posts in Scottish charities for 16-29 year-old care leavers, carers and young people leaving the armed services.