Darwen teenager becomes youngest case worker for charity (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Darwen teenager becomes youngest case worker for charity

8:00pm Monday 9th November 2009

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A GIRL who was orphaned at eight has become one of the youngest case workers in the country for the charity that supported her growing up.

Zoe Charlton, of Woodlands Grove, Darwen, lost her soldier dad John in a motorbike accident when she was 18months old, and her mum, Jane, to ovarian cancer when she was eight.

Now aged 20, she has become a case worker for the Blackburn with Darwen division of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), in order to give something back for 12 years of financial and emotional support from the organisation.

Zoe said: “I was the longest-running case that the Lancashire branch had ever had, from the age of eight.

“They supported me finanically, emotionally, in every way you can think of, because my dad had been in the Durham Light Infantry.

“Last year I was invited to speak at the annual meeting about my experiences of the support, and the SSAFA chairman Sir Robin Ross said I would make a perfect case worker.

“Really, you have to be 21 to sit the case worker exams, but Sir Robin put a personal recommendation in that I should be allowed to do it early.”

So far, Zoe has helped an 89-year-old war veteran from Darwen apply for medals he won during service in the Second World War.

She said: “My work is so fulfilling, but we need to make more people aware of it.

After her parents’ deaths, Zoe was brought up by her uncle, Russell Egan, and his wife Sarah.

Russell, 46, said: “When John died SSAFA got involved helping out with the funeral arrangements, sorting out his army pension and the day-to-day bills.

“They kept a check on Jane and Zoe and when they found out Jane had died in 1997, they stepped back in to help me and my wife.

“At the time, we were living in a two- bedroomed terrace with two young boys, and for the first 12 months Zoe had to share with them.

“When we moved, SSAFA paid for our legal fees, bedroom furniture, for Zoe’s school uniform, school trips and so on.

“At first I was embarrassed to get help paying for clothes, but that is what they are there for.”

As a token of his appreciation, Russell is running the Edinburgh Marathon next year to raise funds for SSAFA.

Zoe hopes to eventually join the RAF as a policewoman or pilot.

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