Joining Kate on Blended this week is Ashley John-Baptiste, who you might recognise from his amazing BBC Three documentary, ‘Split Up in Care: Life Without Siblings’. Ashley is amazing, funny and open and together he speaks candidly with Kate about how he’d already lived with five families by the age of 18. Ashley shares heartbreaking stories of exclusion and the need to put up fronts to reduce the pain of a volatile childhood. Ashley also talks about re-building relationships with his biological family on his own terms and starting a beautiful new family of his own - wrapped up in which is an incredible story of serendipity where he meets his biological brother for the first time. Ashley’s childhood couldn’t have been much tougher but his story is proof that family is never straightforward, never perfect and he highlights the important role that foster care can play in a blended family. To become part of the Blended family, follow @blended on instagram To find out more about foster care, foster initiatives and just fostering in general check please contact your local authority, or get in touch with some charities in the space: https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/ https://www.barnardos.org.uk/ You can watch Ashley’s amazing documentary on BBC.