The University of Liverpool has been awarded the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers Quality Mark in recognition of its support for care experienced students. In September 2022, 73 care experienced students joined the University of Liverpool, up from 31 in 2018.

Growing up in care and occasionally experiencing homelessness, Amy Jo Mook was told she would never go to university. Although her college grades weren’t quite as high as she had hoped, the support of the University of Liverpool’s Widening Participation team allowed Amy to secure a place to study. In her words, she was treated like a person, not a number, and made to feel that she could achieve her ambitions.  

Amy is now a Doctoral Academic Teacher and PhD student within the Department of Psychology at the University of Liverpool and specialises in children's social care and psychological wellbeing. She is passionate about using her lived experience of foster care to improve the outcomes for children and young people living under local authority care through her research and public presence.