24 Aug 2026
Nathan Jackson knows exactly what it feels like to sit on a doorstep at five years old, watching his world collapse.
He remembers the fear of the unknown as he entered the care system, and the isolation of navigating adulthood without a safety net.
Now, his personal journey from a vulnerable child to a devoted father and professional tradesman is doing more than just inspiring his colleagues - it has helped Acis Group secure a major contract to support the next generation of care leavers across Lincolnshire.
Nathan’s story was used as a powerful case study in a successful bid to provide life skills and wellbeing support for young people aged 16–25.
Led by Acis Group’s Community Learning in Partnership (Clip) service, the partnership will deliver trauma-informed support to help care leavers transition into adulthood with the stability Nathan had to fight so hard to build for himself.
“I’m so thrilled that my personal experience has been able to help. I can’t believe it really. I just hope that this new service can do good things and help people,” Nathan said.
Nathan’s story
At five years old, most children are learning to tie their shoelaces or holding a parent’s hand on the walk home from school.
But Nathan remembers sitting alone on a doorstep, his mum crying, the world around him collapsing before he even understood what the world was.
That was the day he was taken away. The day childhood ended. That was the day he had to be taken into care.
Nathan’s earliest memories are stitched together from moments no child should carry: a house in disarray, parents battling addiction, neglect so severe that social workers intervened.
“One minute I was at home,” Nathan recalls. “The next minute, I was at my nan’s. Then my auntie’s. Then I went into care.”
He’s never seen his parents since. He was just five.
Choosing a different path
What followed was a childhood without the safety nets very different childhood to that which most of us take for granted:, involving emergency foster placements, constant and frequent moves., Isolation.
“I had nobody to talk to,” Nathan says. “Everything I’ve done and everything I’ve dealt with, I’ve done myself.”
For many some young people, the care system can leave scars that last a lifetime. Outcomes aren’t always bright and futures are often uncertain. being in care can mean an uncertain future.
But through grit and a spark he still can’t quite explain, Nathan chose a different path.
After bouncing through placements in a number of foster homes, he eventually landed in Gainsborough, guided for a short while by a social worker who believed in him.
When that worker was killed in the 2015 Tunisian terrorist attack, Nathan was left once again to navigate tragedy.
But with the support of his amazing foster parents, Nathan was able to push forward and start building the life he wanted.
He went to college and earned qualifications. Soon after, he found work and built a reputation as a reliable tradesman.
Slowly, brick by brick, he built the stability in young adulthood he had been denied struggled to find as a child, supported by his first work mentor at JCM Building & Fencing.
“My foster parents and my first boss made me the man I am today. I couldn’t have done it without them in my life,” Nathan says.
Valuable work and a stable home
Today, Nathan is a valued member of the repairs team at Acis Group a company he admires for the support it offers to communities in ways he never experienced.
“It’s amazing,” he says. “They help people who need it. People like I used to be.”
But his proudest achievement is something far deeper than qualifications or job titles - his family.
Nathan is now the devoted father of three young children. He speaks about them with a tenderness that comes from knowing what it is to grow up without love.
“They mean everything to me,” he says. “I don’t want them to have the life I had.”
His weekends are sacred family time, with swimming trips, play centres, bedtime stories, and quiet moments helping with homework.
But it isn’t easy. He leaves the house at 7am most days and returns just in time to kiss his children goodnight.
Despite the challenges of long working days and scarce but precious family time, he remains determined.
“I’ve got too many people depending on me,” he says. “I’ve got to keep going.”
A simple message
Nathan Jackson’s story is one of transformation and purpose.
From a frightened five‑year‑old, alone on a doorstep of a family home he’d never see again, to a man determined to rewrite his family’s future.
Nathan’s story is a testament to human resilience and a celebration of what’s possible, a reminder that the past does not define us.
And for young people within the care system today still trapped in the chaos he escaped? Nathan has a simple message: “Forget what’s happened. Look forward. Keep going. It can be OK.”