A young woman from Longstone has credited a leading local children’s charity for helping her to reach her career goals.
Sophie Maginn (21) dreams of being a social worker. Having recently graduated from the University of Ulster and been accepted for further study at Queen’s University Belfast, her future is looking bright. But getting to this point hasn’t always been easy for Sophie.
For as long as she can remember, she has been a young carer for family members in her home. A young carer is someone aged eight to 18 who has caring responsibilities above and beyond what would be usual for someone their age.
It was “a full circle moment,” then, last summer when Sophie applied for a placement with the Young Carers team at Action for Children in Northern Ireland as part of her Social Policy degree—the same team who had assessed her for support during her teenage years.
“I’ve known since I was about 11 or 12 that I wanted to be a social worker,” Sophie says. “I saw how much support my sibling’s disability support worker provided to us and I wanted to be able to do something similar for another family in the future.
“Unfortunately, due to Covid and other factors, I didn’t really get involved with Action for Children back in 2020 when I was assessed. In fact, I was totally surprised when my mum reminded me and I was able to look back at my file! So being accepted for the placement felt like it was meant to be.”
During her six-week placement in the summer of 2024, Sophie took part in a wide range of experiences with Action for Children—from hands-on help with fun days to meeting decision makers at Stormont and sitting in on young carer assessments. She adds that her experience, and the research report she produced based on her time with the charity, played an important role in her acceptance to the highly competitive Social Work course at Queen’s, which she will begin on the 12th of September.
After finishing her placement, Sophie says she really missed the team, the sense of camaraderie, and purpose. “I would have been heavily involved in an autism support group back home in Kilkeel and I missed that when I was in Belfast studying,” she explains.
So, Sophie applied to become an official volunteer at Action for Children earlier this year and plans to continue supporting the charity as she trains to be a qualified social worker—and beyond.
“I know how difficult it can be to be a young carer,” she said. “There’s understanding and then there’s lived experience. My mum and dad are so proud of what I’ve achieved so far and, with the help of Action for Children, there’s even better to come.”
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