You can’t choose your family,
so that’s why we’re building one.
Adelphi supports care-experienced young people through accessible guidance, initiatives and opportunities that make everyday life clearer and more achievable. Alongside this, Adelphi works with Local Authorities, organisations and corporate partners across the UK to strengthen support systems and expand opportunity.
Through advocacy and collaboration, Adelphi also challenges stigma and promotes positive inclusion, helping shift how care experience is understood across society.
At its heart, Adelphi exists to ensure no young person has to navigate adulthood alone.
OUR STORY
Adelphi was founded by care-experienced leader Bethaney Dixon, whose journey through the care system and into adulthood highlighted a reality many young people face: navigating independence without the informal support networks others often rely on.
Later personal experiences served as a powerful reminder that the gaps many care-experienced young people face do not simply disappear with age. Access to clear guidance, trusted networks and consistent support can still be difficult to find.
Adelphi was created to help bridge those gaps.
The name Adelphi comes from the Greek word for sibling or of the same womb. It reflects the type of support Adelphi exists to provide - not parental or institutional, but alongside. Support that feels human, steady and rooted in shared understanding.
Today Adelphi is a growing ecosystem supporting care-experienced young people while strengthening the systems around them. Through the Adelphi platform, partnerships, initiatives and services, Adelphi works across the UK to expand opportunity, improve support and promote positive inclusion.
At its heart, Adelphi exists to ensure care-experienced young people are not left to navigate adulthood alone, but are supported by a community, partnerships and opportunities that help them move forward with confidence.
Why it Matters
-
Every year, thousands of young people leave care in the UK - many stepping into adulthood long before their peers.
Within twelve months, one in three are not in education, employment or training (NEET), and one in four will experience homelessness or housing instability within two years.
The Prison Reform Trust reports that around a quarter of the adult prison population have spent time in care.Behind each of these statistics is a story of transition, resilience, and the urgent need for connection and opportunity.
-
Beyond those early years, care-experienced adults aged 22–25 continue to face long-term barriers - from stable housing and employment to emotional wellbeing and financial security.
The National Audit Office (2023) links many of these challenges to gaps in early life-skills education and limited ongoing guidance.For many, independence arrives suddenly and without structure. Without consistent support, even small everyday tasks can feel overwhelming - not because of a lack of ability, but often because they’ve had to learn alone.
-
The Barnardo’s “Neglected Minds” report found that 45% of children in care - and 72% in residential settings - experience a diagnosable mental health disorder, compared to 1 in 10 in the general population.
These figures reveal the depth of emotional need that often goes unseen, and the importance of stable, human-centred support that feels safe and familiar.
Because when guidance works - when it feels like family - everything changes.
-
It’s important to recognise that official data from the Department for Education only represents care leavers who are still “in touch” with their Local Authority.
Thousands of others fall outside those figures - often due to trauma, loss of trust in authority, or simply the realities of surviving on their own.This is despite the work that any teams may be doing.
Many disengage not because they don’t want help, but because previous systems haven’t always felt safe, consistent, or understanding.
These numbers tell a story - but so do the successes that follow when support works.
With the right connection, the right knowledge and a sense of belonging- care-experienced young people achieve extraordinary things.
Adelphi exists to make that the rule, not the exception.
OUR VALUES
[ 01 ]
Supportive
Adelphi exists to ensure care-experienced young people never have to navigate adulthood alone.
Through practical guidance, community and partnerships, we provide the kind of steady support many young people are expected to build without traditional networks.
Our work focuses on creating stable foundations so young people can move forward with confidence as they begin their independent lives. people are understood, supported and able to thrive.
[ 02 ]
Empowering
We believe lived experience and opportunity should go hand in hand.
Adelphi connects practical knowledge, real-world guidance and professional expertise to help care-experienced young people build confidence, access opportunities and shape their own futures.
By turning information into action, we support young people to take their next steps in employment, education and independent living.
[ 03 ]
Inclusive
Adelphi champions positive inclusion across sectors.
We work with organisations, communities and partners to break down stigma, expand opportunity and improve outcomes for care-experienced people.
By bringing lived experience into conversations that shape systems, we help create environments where care-experienced people are understood, supported and able to thrive.
OUR TEAM
LIVED EXPERIENCE, PROFESSIONAL INSIGHT, AND SHARED VISION FOR CHANGE.
Adelphi is guided by people who bring both lived experience and professional expertise into how support is designed, delivered, and governed.
BETHANEY DIXON
-
Bethaney founded Adelphi drawing on lived experience of the care system alongside professional leadership across multiple sectors, including energy, fintech, and education technology.
Her work spans mentoring, training, leadership development, and organisational consultancy, supporting teams and organisations to improve outcomes through trauma-informed, people-centred practice. Her experience includes leading, mentoring, and training teams across different industries and operating at both strategic and delivery levels.
Bethaney’s approach is grounded in clarity, empathy, and lived understanding, ensuring Adelphi’s work remains practical, respectful, and rooted in the realities young people face when navigating independence.
For more information on Bethaney’s professional work, delivery, and services, please see Professional Services.
EVERTON SUTHERLAND-ADEBIYI
-
Everton is a youth voice champion with a strong passion for innovation, justice, law, and democracy, driven by the belief that every child and young person deserves to thrive, be seen, and be heard.
As Founding Advisor at Adelphi, Everton provides strategic advice on embedding lived experience, co-production, and inclusive service design. He supports partnership working across business, statutory, voluntary, and community sectors.
His experience includes public sector leadership in youth participation, advising senior leaders, working with police and probation, training and upskilling professionals, police scrutiny and advisory roles, and system-change work within children’s services. Everton is currently studying a Master’s in Law as part of his long-term legal journey to strengthen rights-based and child-centred practice.
Work with Adelphi
Adelphi works alongside care-experienced young people, professionals, organisations, and partners who are committed to improving confidence, access, and long-term outcomes.
Whether you’re interested in the Adelphi platform, professional services, partnerships, or future initiatives, we’d love to hear from you.