Your Shout!
A Survey of the Views of 706 Children
and Young People in Public Care
by Judith E. Timms and June Thoburn
NSPCC Review of Legislation Relating
to Children in Family Proceedings
NSPCC Your Shout!
i
Foreword
During the past year the NSPCC has undertaken a Review of Legislation
Relating to Children
in Family Proceedings.We felt that the time was ripe for an audit of the
Children Act, just over
10 years on from its implementation.The purpose of the project has been
to produce a report
with recommendations for reform.We have drawn together a panel of
experts to seek
submissions/evidence from all those involved with child law and practice
to identify problem
areas and proposals for improvements.We have consulted with children and
young people who
have had first hand experience of the operation of the Children Act. It
has been an extremely
useful exercise which has produced valuable information from the point of
view of both
practice and the consumer.
This report represents the results of the vast consultation of
children’s and young people's views.
Over 700 children and young people have responded to the Your Shout! questionnaire
which
was promoted with The Who Cares? Trust through the Who Cares? magazine
to 30,000 children
and young people in public care.This is the first time that children and
young people have been
asked for their opinions about the effect of the legislation and
practice on their lives.Their
statements are presented in full without analysis so that nothing has
been allowed to obscure the
moving messages that they reveal.The findings confirm that the Children
Act is a good piece of
legislation which needs some amendment but primarily needs to be more
effectively
implemented to realise its full potential.
It is of course vital to take this opportunity to listen to children and
young people and hear
what they have taken the time and trouble to tell us.We know that
children are more likely to
tell adults when they are at risk if they believe they will be listened
to.We hope that lessons can
be learned from this report to inform and improve professional training
and practice and that
children will be better protected as a result.
The Panel will be considering the implications of the findings in this
Report and will include
them in the recommendations of the Main Report which will be produced
following the
March 2003 conference.
Barbara Esam
Chair of Panel
March 2003
Your Shout! NSPCC
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About the authors
Judith E Timms OBE, MA (Econ) is the founder, policy consultant and former chief executive
of the National Youth Advocacy Service. She is a qualified and
experienced family and childcare
social worker and children’s guardian. Her publications include the
Department of Health's Manual
of Practice Guidance for Guardians ad Litem and
Reporting Officers (HMSO, 1992), Children's
Representation - a Practitioners Guide (Sweet and Maxwell, 1995) and (co-author) Effective Support
Services for Children and Young People When Parental
Relationships Break Down – a child centred approach
for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1999). She is an Hon. Research
Fellow in the Faculty
of Law at the University of Liverpool and a Vice President of the Family
Mediators Association.
Professor June Thoburn CBE, MSW, LittD, School of Social Work & Psychosocial
Studies, University of East Anglia is a widely respected social work
academic.A qualified and
experienced child and family social worker, she has been teaching on and
researching across
the field of child welfare since 1978. She is involved in the training
of the judiciary and is
frequently asked to provide expert evidence and consultation in complex
child care cases. She
is a member of Lord Justice Thorpe’s advisory committee on training and
the Department of
Health Advisory Group on a new framework for assessment. From 1991 to
1996 she was a
non-executive member of the East Norfolk Health Authority. She is a
Trustee of the Norfolk
and Norwich Families House, which provides a range of family support and
child contact services.
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped to bring together the information in this
report.The Who Cares? Trust
have promoted the questionnaire through their magazine to children and
young people.The
children and young people themselves have made the most significant
contribution by taking the
time to give us the benefit of their views and experiences in the more
than 700 questionnaires
which they completed for the project.We at the NSPCC would like to thank
all those children and
young people who have contributed. The Panel, Special Advisor and
especially Judith E Timms, the
Independent Consultant, have all given generously of their time and
expertise and the NSPCC is
enormously grateful to them. Lastly, thank you to Edward Maude for
inputting the data.
The Panel of Experts
Barbara Esam, lawyer, Public Policy Department, NSPCC (Chair)
David Hershman QC, St. Philip’s Chambers, Birmingham
Professor June Thoburn CBE, School of Social Work & PsychoSocial
Studies, University of East Anglia
Jonathan Whybrow, solicitor, Howell Solicitors, Sheffield
Special Advisor to the Panel
Andrew McFarlane QC, One King’s Bench Walk,Temple and Chairman of the
Family Law Bar
Association
Independent consultant
Judith Timms OBE, formerly Chief Executive of NYAS and Honorary Research
Fellow at
Liverpool University
NSPCC Your Shout!
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Contents
Foreword i
About the authors ii
Acknowledgements iii
Introduction 1
Survey design 3
The findings 5
1. Profile of respondents 5
2.Young people’s experience of court 7
3. Children’s participation in decision making and children’s rights 12
4. Knowledge of the care authority 14
5.The corporate parent and the role of social workers 15
6. Delay, placement change and choice 19
7. Contact with family and friends 23
8. Safety in care and exposure to continuing harm 28
9. Looking back 33
10. Looking forward 35
The children’s verdict on the Children Act 1989 37
Children’s statements – the children and young people’s own
responses to questions 9, 10 and 11 40
Summary of findings and recommendations 105
Appendix 1 The questionnaire 111
Appendix 2 Analysis of response rates to each question 115
Note:Throughout the text, in the interests of brevity,
the terms ‘children’ and ‘young people’ are used
interchangeably to refer to minors up to the age of 18
years rather than the more correct ‘children and
young people’.
Your Shout! NSPCC
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Introduction
Your Shout! is
a questionnaire for children and young people in public care. It was designed
to be considered as part of the NSPCC review of legislation relating to
children in family
proceedings, carried out between May and December 2002.As well as consulting
professional
opinion via an adult questionnaire, it was felt to be essential that
consultation should be carried
out with young people who have first hand experience of legislation
which affects their lives.
The questionnaire was designed to explore how far services have
incorporated the key
principles of the Children Act 1989. In addition, we wanted to examine
the extent to which
the government’s ‘Quality
Protects’ programme has in fact transformed
children’s services1.
The ‘Quality Protects’ programme was set up in England in 1998 and the ‘Children First’
programme in Wales in 1999.The programmes were developed further in ‘The Government’s
Objectives for Children’s Social Services’ that set out eleven key objectives for improving practice2.
One of the key objectives was the involvement of children and young
people in decisionmaking,
a requirement of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the
Child, which states:
‘States Parties shall assure to the child who is
capable of forming his or her own views the right
to express those views freely in all matters affecting
the child, the view of the child being given
due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of
the child.
For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided
the opportunity to be heard in
any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting
the child, either directly, or through
a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner
consistent with the procedural rules
of national law’
It therefore seemed appropriate that the questionnaire had, as a key
theme, the young people’s
experience of decision-making in court and their participation in their
own care plans.The
second major theme was on contact issues and whether young people were
seeing enough of
the people they cared about and who formed the infrastructure of the
lives to which the
majority would eventually return. Post Children Act practice and
research has stressed the need
to promote contact as the means to successful reunification of families3.This is particularly
pertinent at a time when there is considerable discussion of contact
issues in both private and
public law proceedings and when the question of contact in adoption is
also under review in
the context of implementation of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. A
third key theme was
1Department of Health (1998), Quality Protects Circular:Transforming Children’s
Services, Local
Authority Circular (LAC(98)28); and Welsh Office (1999), The Children First Programme in Wales:
Transforming Children’s Services, Circular 20/99, Cardiff:Welsh Office.
2Department of Health (1999), The Government’s Objectives for Children’s Social
Services, London:
Department of Health.
3See Department of Health (2001), The Children Act Now: Messages from Research, Studies
in
Evaluating the Children Act 1989, London:The Stationery Office, p. 134.
NSPCC Your Shout!
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safety – both feeling safe and being free from violence and abuse.The
rationale was that, given
that the overriding aim of the legislation is to keep children safe and
to protect them from
harm, then it was appropriate to find out how safe young people felt in
public care.
Finally, we asked the young people what they would have liked to be
different in the past and
what their hopes were for the future. As so often happens when young
people are given a real
opportunity to participate, the quality and quantity of the response
overwhelmed us.We had
hoped for a sample of 200, to parallel that of the adult professional
respondents. In the event
more than 700 children and young people filled in the questionnaire, in
the hope of making an
impact on the people who make decisions about children.Their
contributions have been set
down in the Children’s and Young People’s Statements section. Names of
people or places have
been removed to preserve the confidentiality of the young people
concerned.With this
exception the statements have been reproduced exactly as they were
written. It is now up to us
to listen, to seek ways of incorporating their views and to ensure that
their voices inform policy
and practice for the next decade.
Your Shout! NSPCC
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Survey design
The questionnaires were distributed through the Who Cares? Trust, who
print and publish Who
Cares?, the national
magazine for young people in public care.The magazine is commissioned
by care authorities in England and Wales, and in Scotland and Northern
Ireland where the
legislation is different.The circulation is 30,000 and includes children
and young people in
residential care, in foster care, in care but living with their parents,
in secure accommodation and
in young offenders’ institutions.The questionnaires were circulated in
the July 2002 edition of
the magazine.
There is no way of knowing how many young people actually received the
questionnaire via
the magazine and thus there is no “response rate”. Nor is there any way
of knowing how
representative are the respondents.The 725 returned questionnaires were
from a group of
children and young people who were not “pre-selected” by those
administering the
questionnaire.They were all self-selected and had chosen to give their
views and opinions and
to share their experiences of public care. Nine of the questions could
be completed by ticking
boxes, the last two questions left space for the young people’s own
unstructured replies (the
children also had the opportunity to add their comments in some of the
earlier questions).
Respondents were asked not to fill in their names and addresses, so that
the answers would be
strictly private and confidential.The questionnaire stressed that
spelling and handwriting were
not important - it was what the respondent had to say that mattered.
Once the questionnaire
had been filled in, the young people were asked to put it in the freepost
envelope provided and
to post it by the 1 September 2002 to the ‘Your Shout!’ Freepost number
in London.
The response was immediate and prolonged. Completed questionnaires
started arriving in
August and were still arriving in January 2003. All responses received
by 9 January 2003 have
been included in this survey. 19 were received after that date and, in
fairness to the young
people who took the trouble to respond, their views have been included
in the children’s
statements, but not in the statistical analysis.This analysis is
therefore based on the results of
706 questionnaires. A copy of the questionnaire the young people
received is reproduced in
Appendix 1.
Throughout the text and tables, percentages are generally expressed as a
percentage of those
responding to the particular question, rounded to the nearest whole
number. Decimal points are
included when this provides a more accurate indication of the order of
magnitude of smaller
percentages. Charts show the percentage of all respondents, including
those who did not answer
particular questions.
NSPCC Your Shout!
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5
Your Shout! NSPCC
The findings
1. Profile of the respondents
1.1 Sample by sex
418 of the respondents (59%) were girls/young women and 287 (41%) were
boys/young men
(one child did not specify his/her gender).Thus young women are
over-represented among
respondents, since the proportion of girls in the looked-after
population in England in 2002
was 45%.
1.2 Sample by ethnic origin
All except 8 respondents gave information on their ethnic origin. Of
those who did, 601
(86%) ticked the “white British” box and 97 (14%) indicated that they
were of minority
ethnic origin.This is a slightly lower proportion than for the
population of children of
minority ethnic origin looked after in England generally, which was18%
in 2002. Fewer of
those in the 12-15 age group (10%) recorded that they were of minority
ethnic origin than
in the youngest group (18%) and the 16+ group (21%) (p<.01).Table 1
gives the detailed
responses.
White British
Black Caribbean
Black British
Black African
Pakistani
Indian
British Asian
Bangladeshi
Chinese
Other
Total
(Left blank = 8)
601
19
15
11
6
3
2
2
0
39
698
86.0
3.0
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.3
0.3
0.0
6.0
100.0
Table 1: Ethnicity of Respondents
males (40.7%)
females (59.2%)
Ethnic Origin Response %
NSPCC Your Shout!
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1.3 Sample by age
The youngest respondent was aged 6 and the oldest was 20. One child did
not specify her age.
The mean age was 13, with the majority of respondents being in the 13-15
age group. Slightly
more of the boys than the girls were in the lower age groups.The boys’
average age was 13.3
compared with 13.5 for the girls. 71% of male respondents and 66% of female
respondents were
in the 6 to 14 age group.The distribution of ages among the sample is
shown in the graph
below.
Table 2: Age and sex of respondents
Distribution of ages amongst the questionnaire sample
1.4 Health problems among the sample
81 (12%) of the young people stated that they had a disability or
long-term health problem that
affected daily life. More boys than girls reported that they had a
disability or health condition -
15% of the boys and 9% of the girls, statistically a significant difference
(p<.05). A higher
proportion of the children of minority ethnic origin recorded that they
had a disability but the
numbers are small (15 children of minority ethnic origin in this group
and 65 white British
children). Children who said they had disabilities were evenly spread
across the age groups.
6-11
12-14
15-16
17-20
Total
(left blank = 2)
62
142
63
20
287
22.0
49.0
22.0
7.0
100.0
79
197
107
34
417
19.0
47.0
26.0
8.0
100.0
141
339
170
54
704
20.0
48.0
24.0
8.0
100.0
Age Male % Female % Total %
140
6 yrs 7 yrs 8 yrs 9 yrs 10 yrs 11 yrs 12 yrs 13 yrs 14 yrs 15 yrs 16 yrs
17 yrs 18 yrs 19 yrs 20 yrs
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2. Young people’s experience of court
2.1 The majority of the 706 children and young people in this survey
would have been the
subject of a range of different court proceedings, although some will
have been accommodated
at the request of the parents or themselves. Since the usual position is
for a solicitor and the
children’s Guardian to present the child’s wishes and feelings to the court
and advocate for
them, it is somewhat surprising that 163 respondents (23%) said that
they had been to court
when asked “Have you ever been to Court when decisions were being made
about you?”
Although when we framed the question we had in mind public law care
proceedings, the
sample included young people in youth offenders’ institutions and secure
accommodation.
Some respondents, therefore, may have responded in respect of criminal
proceedings. It is also
possible that a small number would have responded in the context of
“their case” having been
decided in court rather than actually attending themselves.
Table 3: Court attendance as recorded by young people
Table 3 (shown above) gives the responses as to whether the young person
had “ever been to
court when decisions were being made about you”. A higher proportion of
those aged 16 or
over (38%) had been to court compared with children of a younger
age.This suggests that, since
16 year olds are more likely to be involved in criminal activity than other
age groups, the figure
relating to those who attended court is, to some extent, inflated by
those attending youth court.
However, the age profile did not indicate that criminal proceedings
would account for a
majority of those who answered “yes”, in that girls were equally
represented amongst those who
went to court, whilst young men are more likely than young women to
attend court because of
criminal justice matters. Some may have attended court to give evidence
against an alleged
perpetrator of abuse. Girls were twice as likely as boys to say that
they did not go to court but
would have liked to do so.These data are shown in Table 4 (see next
page).
Your Shout! NSPCC
7
I have not attended court
I have attended
I would have liked to
No, I didn’t want to
Yes, but I didn’t want to
Total
(left blank = 13)
395
152
88
47
11
693
57.0
22.0
13.0
7.0
1.5
100.0
Response %
No (55.9%)
Yes (21.5%)
I would have liked to (12.5%)
No, I didn’t want to (6.7%)
Yes, but didn’t want to (1.6%)
Blank (1.8%)
Table 4: Court attendance by sex
It was notable that the responses indicated that, in general, the
children did not perceive the
court proceedings as an avenue of communication for them to be involved
in decision making.
Comments about the plans made for them were invariably associated with
social services
departments rather than the judiciary and the courts.
Only 13 (9%) of those in the 6 to 11 age group indicated that they went
to court (one 6 year
old, two nine year olds, one aged 10 and nine aged 11) compared with 68
(21%) of those aged
12-14, 66 (39%) of those aged 15-16 and 16 (21%) of those aged 17-20
(p<.001).The lower
proportion in the 17-20 age group is probably explained by the fact that
more of these will
have started to be looked after some years ago, since it is those who
have had long and fairly
stable placements who remain ‘looked after’ in their long term foster
families until the age of 18.
There was a numerical tendency, which did not reach statistical
significance, for those saying
they had a disability or health problem to be more likely than those who
did not to attend
court (32% compared with 23%: (p.077).There was a similar tendency
(p.084) for those of
minority ethnic origin to record that they had been to court (33%
compared with 22% of those
who recorded their ethnicity as white British.)
2.2 The child’s experience of court proceedings
To examine the information about help received in respect of court
attendance those 163
children who actually went to court are analysed as a separate group
(hereafter, the “court
sample”).Table 5 (please see next page) presents the findings about the
help children received
during court proceedings, both for the whole sample as well as the court
sample.
2.3 Question 6(B) 3: “Who was helpful?”
The range of people who were helpful to children attending court was
wide and interdisciplinary
with social workers heading a list that included teachers, the
Samaritans and
therapists. In terms of practical help, not having enough money and not
getting enough help
generally featured relatively strongly.This question elicited 16
categories of people.The five
most popular categories were social workers, a named person, solicitors,
carers and family
members.The detailed findings are shown in Table 6 (please see page 10).
(Note. Not all the children who answered this question would have had
access to all of the
people in Table 6, e.g. therapists.)
NSPCC Your Shout!
8
Went
No-wanted to
No-didn’t
want to
No
Total
(left blank = 14)
68
23
23
169
283
24.0
8.0
8.0
60.0
100.0
95
65
24
225
409
23.0
16.0
6.0
55.0
100.0
163
88
47
394
692
24.0
13.0
7.0
57.0
100.0
Category Male % Female % Total %
Your Shout! NSPCC
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I got enough help at court
I didn’t get enough help at court
I didn’t get any help at court
Total responding
(left blank = 379 for whole sample
and 6 for court sample)
I had someone helpful to talk to
No I didn’t
Total responding
(left blank = 306 for whole sample
and 8 for court sample)
I got enough practical help
I didn’t get enough practical help
I got no help
Total responding
(left blank = 287 for whole sample
and 9 for court sample)
Someone explained what was happening
No one explained
Total
(left blank = 258 for whole sample
and 8 for court sample)
I had a chance to speak to the judge
I did not get the chance
I would have liked the chance
I didn’t want to speak to the judge
Total responding
(left blank = 310 for whole sample
and 17 for court sample)
I was listened to
I was not listened to
I don’t know
Total responding
(left blank = 265 for whole sample
and 7 for court sample)
134
154
39
327
264
136
400
210
182
27
419
282
166
448
45
218
83
50
396
183
138
120
441
41.0
47.0
12.0
100.0
66.0
34.0
100.0
50.0
43.0
7.0
100.0
63.0
37.0
100.0
11.0
55.0
21.0
13.0
100.0
42.0
31.0
27.0
100.0
110
33
14
157
121
34
155
74
65
15
154
130
25
155
39
55
28
24
146
73
39
44
156
70.0
21.0
9.0
100.0
78.0
22.0
100.0
49.0
42.0
10.0
100.0
84.0
16.0
100.0
27.0
38.0
19.0
16.0
100.0
47.0
25.0
28.0
100.0
Category Whole % of Court % of
Sample those Sample those
who who
responded responded
Table 5: Help received during court proceedings
NSPCC Your Shout!
2.4 Question 6(C)2 (practical help during court
proceedings): “Any other
comments?”
A low proportion of children chose to add further comments about the
practical help they
received during court proceedings (12% of the whole sample: see Appendix
2).Those who did
gave a varied and polarised range of responses.These are shown in Table
7 (please see page 11).
2.5 Question 6(D)2 (explaining to the child what was
happening in court): “Any
other comments?”
As with the “Any other comments?” part of 6(C), this question drew a low
response (9%).The
answers, which are shown in Table 8 (please see page 12), were varied
and polarised.The two
most popular responses, for example, were that the child did, and did
not, receive enough
information.This indicates that practice is still variable, but that
some areas are succeeding in
getting relevant information to children.
2.6 Question 6(E): “Did you have the chance to speak
to the judge?”
For the court sample, over half of those who responded (57%) said they
did not have the chance
to speak to the judge (including 19% of the court sample who said they
wished they had had
the chance to speak to the judge). 16% said they would not have wanted to.
Out of the 88
children who did not go to court but would have liked to, a higher
proportion, 34, (39%) said
they would have liked the chance to speak to the judge whilst only 3
said they would not have
10
Social worker
A person listed by name
Solicitor
Foster carers
Family member
Children’s guardian
Friend
Everyone
Staff
Teacher
NSPCC
Leaving care worker
Police
Drugs worker
Samaritans
Therapist
Total responding
(left blank = 466 for whole sample and
53 for court sample)
71
65
34
26
25
16
6
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
240
30.0
27.0
14.0
11.0
10.0
7.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.5
31
20
29
8
13
7
3
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
110
28.0
18.0
26.0
7.0
12.0
6.0
3.0
1.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
Table 6: People who were helpful to children during
court proceedings.
Category Whole % of Court % of
Sample replies where Sample replies where
mentioned mentioned
Your Shout! NSPCC
11
I didn’t get enough money
I got enough help
I didn’t go to court
I didn’t/don’t want to go to court
I didn’t get enough help
I would have liked to go to court
Negative about social worker
Positive about carer
Positive about social worker
People didn’t listen to me enough
Negative about care
I didn’t get enough information
Positive about staff
I was too young to attend
Negative about carer
I would like to stay in care
Positive about Guardian
I was moved around too much
Other comment
Total responding
(left blank = 619 for whole sample and
125 for court sample)
11
9
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
25
87
13.0
10.0
6.0
6.0
6.0
5.0
5.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
29.0
2
5
1
5
0
1
3
0
1
1
2
0
2
1
0
1
0
1
12
38
5.0
13.0
3.0
13.0
0.0
3.0
8.0
0.0
3.0
3.0
5.0
0.0
5.0
3.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
3.0
32.0
Table 7: Other comments about practical help during
court proceedings
Category Whole % of Court % of
Sample those who Sample those who
responded responded
wanted to do so. Just over a quarter of those in the court sample
responding to this question
(27%) said that were able to speak to the judge.
None of the children referred directly to the role of judges in their
statements.This may say
something about how children view their role in the decision making
process or it may be
more indicative of a lack of opportunity to attend and speak directly to
the person making the
decisions.The responses suggest that there are children involved in
family proceedings who
would like to be able to attend court and to speak to the judge and who
did not have the
opportunity to do so. Some were philosophical about the lack of
opportunity to be consulted:
“I would have liked to have had a say about being put
in care and who I was with. I was
probally to younge though.”.
2.7 Question 6(G): “What would have made things
easier?”
Of the total sample, 144 (20%) answered “nothing” to this question, 138
(20%) wanted more
support, 124 (18%) wanted more information while 47 (7%) wanted more
practical help. 321
young people left this answer blank. Of the court sample, 39 (24%) said
that nothing would
have made things easier, 55 (34%) wanted more support, 55 (34%) wanted
more information
and 19 (12 %) wanted more practical help. 26 left the answer blank. In
this question, some
children cited more than one factor.
NSPCC Your Shout!
12
3. Children’s participation in decision making
and children’s rights
The relevant question for this section is Question 6(F):“Were you
listened to and your rights
respected?”The responses are included in Table 5.
The comparatively low response rate for this question (63%) is probably
accounted for by the
fact that some of the children thought that this question only applied
to them if they had
attended court. For those who responded from the sample as a whole
(597), 43% considered
that they were listened to and 27% replied that they did not know.
Further analysis indicated
that:
• 40% of the girls and 44% of the boys who
answered this question said that they thought that
they had been listened to (p<.01).
• Those aged 11 or under were more likely
to consider that they were listened to (55%
responded ‘yes’) than those aged 12-15 (37%) or those aged 16+ (41%)
(p<.05).
• 76% of those who said that they felt
safe when looked after, compared with 57% who said
Table 8: Other comments about the child’s
understanding of the court process
I got enough information
I didn’t get enough information
Positive about social workers
Positive about Guardian
Positive about solicitors
I would have liked to go to court
I got enough help
I wasn’t listened to enough
Negative about social workers
I didn’t get enough help
I would like to see friends more
I was too young to attend
I want to change my behaviour
Negative about staff and s.w.
Court process was too complex
Other comment
Total responding
(left blank = 641 for whole sample and
130 for court sample)
15
14
6
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
11
65
23.0
22.0
9.0
5.0
5.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
17.0
8
9
2
0
3
2
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
4
33
24.0
27.0
6.0
0.0
9.0
6.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
3.0
3.0
12.0
Category Whole % of Court % of
Sample those who Sample those who
responded responded
2.8 Question 6(G)2: “Anything else?”
In common with similar questions in the previous part of the
questionnaire, there was a low response
rate for this question (8%).Again, some children cited more than one
factor in their responses.
Your Shout! NSPCC
13
People didn’t listen to me enough
I didn’t get enough information
I didn’t get enough help
I would like to leave care
Negative about social worker
I got enough help
I wish my family was present
I wish my family behaved better
Court process was too complex
Positive about Guardian
Positive about carer
Positive about social worker
I got enough information
I wanted justice
I wish I had behaved better
I would have liked to go to court
I was too young to attend
I helped myself
I want more family contact
I was listened to enough
Negative about Guardian
Total responding
(left blank = 648 for whole sample and
137 for court sample)
10
9
8
7
7
6
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
58
17.0
15.0
14.0
12.0
12.0
10.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
5
3
2
4
2
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
0
2
0
0
1
1
0
0
26
19.0
12.0
8.0
15.0
8.0
19.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
8.0
0.0
8.0
0.0
0.0
4.0
4.0
0.0
0.0
Table 9: Any other comments about court proceedings
Category Whole % of Court % of
Sample those who Sample those who
responded responded
they did not feel safe when looked after, considered that their rights
were respected (p<.001).
• There was no significant difference in
respect of disability.
• Numerically, more of those of minority
ethnic origin considered that they were listened to
and their rights respected than was the case with the white British
children (48% compared
with 40%) although this did not reach statistical significance.
This issue came up in responses to several other questions in the
questionnaire.
“I would have wanted my opinion to be listened to
rather than just my carers, But the social
workers should have been listening to me instead of
just the opinion of the carer.”
“I would have liked to have had more info and would of
liked to have more say in the matter”
“having a say in thing will make me a lot Pleased”
It is clear from the responses that not being listened to is a problem
for some whilst in care and
that this is exacerbated by lack of knowledge about the way in which
young people can
influence the decisions taken about them.
NSPCC Your Shout!
14
4. Knowledge of the care authority
Table 10 shows that nearly half (45%) did not name their care authority.
(Since the respondents
were careful in completing the ‘tick box’ parts of the questionnaire, it
seems reasonable, here, to
include those who left this question blank amongst those who did not
know).
Table 10: Response to the question “Who is your care
authority?”
Boys were more likely than girls to give an appropriate/correct response
(60% compared
with 52%) (p<.001). Overall, 315 respondents were not able to name
their care authority.
i.e. nearly half the sample. Incorrect answers were, for example, the
name of a carer or
residential home.There was a numerical tendency (that did not reach
statistical significance)
towards the under 12s being more likely than those in the other two age
groups to name a
care authority (60% compared with 55% and 53% for those in the older age
groups). It is
possible that more of those in the older age groups started to be looked
after before the
Children Act guidance on consultation of children and more systematic
reviews and care plans
started to have an impact.This may explain why the younger children were
more aware of the
role of the care authority.There was also a tendency towards those who
described themselves
as ‘white British’ to be more likely to name their care authority than
those of other ethnic
origin (58% compared with 46%).There was a tendency towards more of
those with a
disability or health condition naming their care authority (60% did so)
than those with
no health problems (55%).
The question on whether the child could name the care authority was
designed to look at the
young people’s perception of who is looking after them as well as making
decisions about them.
This is not just a one-dimensional matter of knowing or not knowing. It
is a more complex
question of who young people think is looking after them. Some young
people felt they were
being cared for by strangers:
“because if you think about it youre living with
complete strangers”
“Being in care made me feel uncumfertable, insacur and
made me feel like I wasn’t there
Care authority known
Don’t know
Incorrect answer given
Blank (included in analysis as indicates
child did not know)
Total
391
181
59
75
706
55.0
26.0
8.0
11.0
100.0
Category Response %
Care authority known (55.4%)
Don’t know (25.6%)
Incorrect answer (8.4%)
Blank (10.6%)
Your Shout! NSPCC
15
like I didn’t exist.”
“[No I don’t feel safe] Because you’re always around
strange people you dont know About.”
Local authority management structures are complex and difficult for
adults to negotiate. It was,
therefore, not surprising that some children became distressed:
“I didn’t feel safe or enjoy being in care ‘cos I was
suddenly out of place with a group
of strangers. I couldn’t relax and I cried all the
time. I had a very bad reaction to it.”
This can lead to children feeling trapped in an unknown situation. One
young man wrote:
“I feel that children in care feel traped because they
dont know the people around them
as much as they would like to.”
5. The corporate parent and the role of social workers
5.1 From their responses to questions about looking back and looking
forward it was clear that
many of the young people had been well looked after by their local
authorities and the carers
with whom they had been placed and were positive about the future.
“I don’t want anything to be different because I am
happy with everything that I have.”
Another 16 year old had come to recognise that the care authority did
have her best interests at
heart and was wanting to maintain the stability she had achieved:
“Nothing, although from the age 12, I was relluctant
to what S.S. wanted for my near future,
I thought somethings they done were to harsh like put
on a secure order for a Long period, and not
trusting me on my own in society, and being unable to
stay at friends over night, Lack of trust
resulted in me running away from numerous care homes
and putting my self in Severe Danger
around drugs + prostitution. History repeated itself
for 3 1/2 years, Id be in and out
of Secure going back to my past [illegible] I am 16
now and Semi-independent.And I am So So
greatful for Social Servises Support and Looking back
they only wanted what was best for me and
what would keep me safe. If it wasn’t for their
correct Judgement, Id be dead, ive been on harsh
drugs and been through a lot of pooh! but im now
writing a novel of my traumatic history.”
5.2 Permeating the responses of some of the young people were questions
around who is in
charge of their day-to-day welfare and to whom can they appeal if things
go wrong.What
seemed to be clear from the findings was that many young people cannot
see further than their
immediate care-giver, whether that is a foster carer or the duty social
worker.This is not
surprising given the chain of local authority accountability. If one
also takes into consideration
the extent to which they are apparently missing and/or losing contacts
with extended family
and friends, then one has a picture of some young people with no
immediate frame of reference
in terms of a circle of people to test out thoughts, fears, feelings and
aspirations.
“it makes me feel difficult and scared some time’s
know one talks to me so I am puzzled.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
16
To that extent it is an alien world to the young people in which they
may not even be clear
about the faces of the people who are taking the decisions about their
day-to-day welfare and
indeed about the rest of their lives. Some children are worried by this:
“[yes I feel safe] It does but it can be a bit too
over protected now I’m getting older I want to sleep
around my friends houses without having a police check
because it just puts you aside to
your other friends and makes you feel and think that
you are different from anyone else.”
Many young people have had to deal with the distressing knowledge that
their parents can no
longer exercise their parental responsibility in a way that is
acceptable to the rest of society.The
question which receives rather less attention, however, is how the child
perceives and
experiences the corporate parenting by care authorities which take its
place.
For some of the young people who responded, the local authority had
provided a sense of
security and then taken it away again by sending the child home.One ten
year old felt unable
to say that she did not want to go back to live with her parents. Her
brother had been old
enough to ‘take the law into his own hands’ by running away, but it is
disturbing to realise that
exposing himself to danger by running away was the only way he could
find to make his views
known
“I would have like to stay in care because I feel much
safer there with my brother now I’m
living with my perants and my bro. dosen’t live with
me no more, when we knew we only
had 3 days left in care so my bro got so upset that he
ran away: they found him and hes
in care again.”
The opposite was the case for this 15 year old:
“I would like my little bro to come home ‘cos I can’t
stand the thought of him going through
every single day - It was a stupid decision to let me
come home and not my brother ‘cos now he
feels like he’s done something wrong and we don’t want
him to come back. but we do
desperately once Joe’s home the social worker can come
and visit us if they really have to, but my
family would like to get our stuff together and move
to [place] where we can hopefully start
again + put all this mess behind us.”
The lack of easy accessibility to social workers who could make
decisions about them was
clearly also a source of frustration and sometimes anger to the young
people who felt that their
problems were pressing.
Several respondents wanted the ‘corporate parenting’ to be exercised by
greater delegation to
their foster parents or the relatives they were living with:
“I would like socil workers to be a bit more alert and
to here what foster cares have to say and
when the put a time down to come and see you the must
try to make the effert and come.”
Although some regretted that their parents did not have more of a say in
the care planning,
others were uneasy that their parents still did have a say in the detail
of their lives:
“If you have no contact with parents, I don’t think
that they should still be able to tell you
what you can and can’t do in certain circumstances.
But......the place I’m in now is brilliant”
Your Shout! NSPCC
17
However, some wanted to see more of their social workers away from their
carers:
“Having a younger social worker to talk to and to be
able to talk to my social worker without
my foster parents there! Social workers usually ask if
it’s alright for the foster parent to stay
while you talk and when your with them you can’t
really say you would mind because then
you might hurt there feelings mostly when there like
your parents!”
“get more support and be informed of things happening
to do with myself. to get hold of my
social worker more easier.”
“I have been in foster care for 3 years and in that
time I have had 9 socal workers I would like
to have a socal worker which stays longer can you
help”
“The way no one seems to have time ‘Can I ring you
back theres a crisis’ ‘Let me Just finish
these Reports’”
This young woman was one of those who found that being in care carried a
stigma made
worse by the sense that key decisions in her life had to be taken by
someone who was paid
to care about her.
I wish it wasnt so obvious I was in care. I would like
other young people to have a nice
placement when they come into care so they dont have
to keep moving around. I wish that
social workers etc cared when they leave work as well
as when their at work.To them its just a
job but to us its not.We depend on them 24/7 not just
9-5 five days a week.”
“for social workers to get out of my life I was fine
in the start thay have fucked my life up
totally and I hate them all they Just do it for the
money.Write back from [name]”
This is reflected in the words of this 17 year old Bangladeshi young
man:
“More money more resonserbitty to carear than sociall
worker cos he or she does not look after
you see you ever 3 weeks to see what happening because
when they see you they pretend they
know what going on when they don’t From [name]”
Further information on the way in which the local authority is
fulfilling its ‘corporate
parenting’ role was gained from the question on whether the young people
knew about their
care plans and had been involved in writing them.
NSPCC Your Shout!
18
5.3 417 children (65%) did not contribute to the writing of their care
plan.This is disappointing
given the current emphasis in children’s participation in care planning.
Moreover, experience tells
us that plans have a much better chance of succeeding where the children
themselves have been
involved in their preparation. It is encouraging that over half of the
children (56%) (and 81% if
only those who answered either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ are included) indicated
that they were happy with
their plan, especially given the high percentage of young people who did
not help with writing it.
However, a quarter of the sample did not know whether they were happy
with the plan or not,
which again is disappointing and perhaps indicates a low level of
involvement in the discussions.
454 (77% of those who responded to this question and 64% of the whole
sample) ticked that they
did not want to change their plan.The comparatively high level of
agreement with the care plans
– despite the low level of involvement in the writing and the fact that
more than a quarter of the
sample did not know what was in their care plan, are aspects of the
findings which would bear
closer investigation. Further analysis pointed to differences within the
group.
• Girls were more likely than boys to know
what their care plan was (73% compared with
70%: p<.001).
• There was a tendency that did not reach
statistical significance for those in the 11-15 age
group to be more likely to know what their care plan was than those in
the younger or
older age groups.
• Those who reported that they did not
feel safe in care were less likely to say that they knew
what their care plan was (57% compared with 76%: p<.001).
• There was no difference in response in
respect of those who had a disability or health problem.
• There was a tendency towards fewer of
those of minority ethnic origin reporting that they
knew what their care plan was, but this difference (66% compared with
72% of the white
British children) was not statistically significant.
5.4 The children were invited to add their own extra comments about
their care plan.Their
responses are categorised in Table 12:
Do you know what your care plan is?
Did you help write it?
Are you happy with it?
(no includes ‘don’t know’ and left blank)
Is there anything you would like to change?
487
228
392
139
71.0
35.0
56.0
23.0
196
417
314
454
29.0
65.0
44.0
77.0
683
645
706
593
I know what my care plan is (69.0%)
I don’t know (27.8%)
Blank (3.3%)
Question Yes % of No/ % of Number
those who Don’t those who responding
replied know replied ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Table 11: About the respondent’s care plan
Your Shout! NSPCC
19
It was significant that many young people took every opportunity to
reiterate that they missed
their families, would like more contact with family and friends and
would like to return home
eventually.Only one young person said that he/she would like less family
contact. Some of the
difficulties in organising supervised contact, including the importance
of arranging safe,
comfortable contact, were brought out by the findings of the adult
review. It would have been
interesting to know the reasons for the lack of contact among the respondents.The
question of
contract is discussed in more detail in Section 7.
6. Delay, placement change and choice
Associated with the children’s experiences of court and the local
authority processes for
reviewing care plans is the question of the impact on the children of
inappropriate delay in
reaching decisions about their future.
From the responses of the family justice professionals to our survey, it
is clear that delay is
endemic within the court and care systems. In some respects, most
notably in relation to the
importance of services being provided to support families so that
children can remain with
parents or return to them and on the importance of the extended family
and siblings to
I want to leave care
I don’t know if I have a plan
I’d like more family contact
I’m happy with my plan
I’m not happy with my plan
I’m not listened to enough
I’d like to stay in care
I don’t have a plan
Positive about carer
Negative about social worker
I’d like more money
I need more help
I’m happy
Negative about care
I want my family to behave better
I want to behave better
Positive about care
Negative about carer
Positive about social worker
I’d like more contact with a named person
I’d like more contact with my boyfriend
I’d like less family contact
I need more information
Other comments
Total responding
left blank = 565
27
22
20
11
10
8
7
6
4
4
4
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
141
19.0
16.0
14.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
6.0
Whole sample % of those responding
Table 12: Other comments about the care plan
NSPCC Your Shout!
children in public care, the statements of the children are very close
to the responses of the
professionals. In one respect, however, there is a marked contrast.Whilst
almost invariably the
family justice professionals referred to the problems of ‘delay’, the
actual word appeared only
twice in the children’s responses, and in both cases it was to apologise
for the delay in returning
the ‘Your Shout’ questionnaire.We scrutinised their written answers and
found that, generously
interpreted, the concepts and implications of avoidable delay were
present in around 30 of the
909 separate comments. (We include in this total of responses the answer
‘no’ or ‘nothing’ to
the question as to whether the young person would have wished that
things had been done
differently or would like to make changes in the future, since this
appears to be a positive
statement of satisfaction). Comments on delay in achieving a sense of
permanence and stability,
including returning home if that is what they wanted, are included, even
though the actual
word ‘delay’ was not mentioned.
Looking first at delay in court proceedings, for the majority who did
not attend court there
was the additional anxiety of waiting to hear what had happened. One 14
year old girl wished
she had been to court herself instead of not being told about her fate for weeks. From the
children’s perspective, therefore, the problems of delay are not so much
in relation to the
proceedings, but in relation to the delay in hearing what decisions have
been made.This
provides a pointer towards good practice in the future, as theoretically
it should be possible to
do rather more about informing children about the outcome of court
proceedings promptly
than it is currently possible to do in avoiding the delay in listing
proceedings:
“I think sisters and Brothers should not be split up
and you could see your mum and dad as
much as you could. And when you tell people your not
happy in your placement to move you.
And to find out want is the matter is. And to go to
Court and heard it for your self in stead of
not beening told for a weeks.”
The two comments to specifically refer to unnecessary delay in the
process were:
“People to hurry up and deal with my future”
“decisions To been made about me when I First come in
To care noT 10 years after.”
Some of those who never wished to leave home commented in the delay in
proceedings
delaying their return:
“[I would like to be] coming home soona”
“I would like to been seen something done so that we
can go home. And if were going to
be in care for quite some time yet I would like to see
my friends”
Closely linked were comments about the distress caused by multiple
moves, some of which will
have been caused by delays in the court and care planning system.Two
young people linked
moves within care to the care system not making them feel safe - an
important reminder that a
child who has been harmed, especially in a previous placement, will
always fear that he or she
may be emotionally if not physically or sexually harmed in the next one.
“I don’t feel safe when I change placements as I don’t
know where I’am going”
20
21
Your Shout! NSPCC
“Sometimes coz i hated been moved about not knowing
where i was going next and who these
people where so sometimes it was quite scary and
upsetting as I could never settle down and
was always playing up at school and at home”
In contrast, this quote expresses the relief that some felt when told
they would not be returning
home and could settle in to their foster families and be safe:
“yes [I feel safe] because I know now my Mum can not
come and take me because I am long term.”
The plea to become settled is reflected in these comments:
“To be settled and happy and have a horse.”
“Staying in one foster placement.”
“To have a stable home”
Some who now expressed happiness in their present placement regretted
that this could not
have happened sooner:
“I would have liked to have lived with (name) and
(name) in the first place.”
“To come to my present foster carers first, without
going to all those other foster parents.”
“Where I am in care now I wish that I came here first
because it is cool where I live now.”
“I would have liked the foster carer to be different
when I was 6. Now I’m in a foster carers
house and sometimes I really wish that I didn’t come
to live here. But being honest I don’t
mind being where I am because there really loving +
caring.”
This 13 year old was still hoping to find stability:
“Go to foster care and the foster care to be safe”
Others regretted the many moves but linked them with the need for help
throughout the
process, including help to understand what was happening to them and
why:
“being moved around so much this unsettled me a lot,
obviously when I woz in my younger
years I didn’t have a clue or understand anything that
woz going on in my Life.”
The statements of the largest proportion of children pointed to their
desire for a sense of
stability through returning safely to birth families or being allowed to
remain with or go to live
with their relatives.
“[I wish I’d] stayed with my Dad.”
Others wished to remain with the foster parents or (less frequently) at
the Children’s
Home where they felt settled and safe. Some wished to go back to places
where they had
been settled:
NSPCC Your Shout!
22
“to sday at my old cllcdran home (named)”
Several children indicated that they had found stability or a ‘sense of
permanence’ with their
foster families or relatives and expressly said they did not want to be
moved, but these two
young people were fearful that they may be ‘moved on’ at 18, instead of
being allowed to move
out of their foster family and into ‘independence’ when the time was
right for them.
“Not live on my own at 18.”
“To stay with the same family until I am 23”
The issue of inappropriate delay is often linked by professionals with
the importance of getting
children settled as quickly as possible with adoptive families. Our
sample obviously precluded
children who had been adopted. Had it not done so, it seems likely that
some of them, as in the
study by Thomas and Beckford4, ‘Adopted Children Speaking’ would have commented on the
negative impact of delay on their lives. However, around 6 per cent of
all children looked after
are living with families prior to being adopted by them and it could be
hypothesised that some
in our sample would have wanted to be placed for adoption or be adopted
by their foster
parents. Also, recent research by Sinclair et al5
has indicated that growing numbers of children
are starting to be looked after because of problems within their
adoptive families. It might thus
have been expected that some of our respondents would have views about
whether delay had
had an impact on adoption plans. However, aside from a reference to a
‘forever family’ which
probably refers to an adoptive family, there were only three mentions of
adoption. One was
from a young person who said:
“I would like to have been adopted.”
It is not clear whether this young person is referring to an adoptive or
a permanent foster
family, but the importance of a sense of safety and stability is
contained in this comment:
“I would Like my Forever family straight away instead
of lots of short term family”
It is not clear what lies behind this plaintive comment from an eleven
year old who includes
her siblings in her response.One would like to think that strenuous
efforts were still being made
to find them a ‘loving and caring home’, but perhaps she had been told
that the search for an
adoptive family had been unsuccessful:
“We would have liked a loving careing home”
Two other children mentioned the word ‘adoption’. One wished she had not
been adopted:
“I wished I knew I was gonna end up in care again cos
then I wouldnt have had to be adopted
and would be able to meet my birth parents now and not
to have to wait till next year.And I
wished that they had put me where I am now fist cos
then I wouldn’t have had loadza placements.”
4Thomas C. and Beckford V. (DH 1999) ‘Adopted Children Speaking’
London: BAAF
5Sinclair, I., Gibbs, I. and Wilson, K.
(2002). ‘Supporting Foster Placements’ York: Social Work
Research and Development Unit.
Your Shout! NSPCC
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The ‘wish for the future’ for this eight year old was not to be adopted
- another reminder of
the importance of ensuring that, whilst avoiding delay, undue haste can
lead to a failure to listen
to their wishes as well as fully assessing the needs of children:
“I don’t want to be adopted”
Reducing unnecessary delay will make an important contribution to
reducing unnecessary
moves, but alongside this must come resources for assessment and
planning so that the
appropriate placement is made when a child first leaves home and
unnecessary emergency
placements avoided. One young person made this perceptive comment
specifically on this
point, but many of the children who thought that more should have been
done to help their
families or to help them return safely to the family home would have
echoed it:
“[I would have liked] to live in the area I was born
in where all my natural family is. Have a
planned admission when moving to a different home.”
The adverse consequences of delay, whether appropriate or inappropriate,
will also be mitigated
by the securing of enough high quality residential and foster placements
so that children can
feel safe and cared for in the same ‘assessment’ or ‘bridging’ placement
to allow plans for the
right care plan to be arrived at and the right placement found.
Elsewhere in their statements,
children wrote of the harm they suffered because of the wrong care plan
or the wrong family
or children’s home. Getting the balance between appropriate delay to
ensure the right plan and
placement and unnecessary delay will continue to be one of the ‘acid
tests’ of whether the
legislation is working in the interests of children’s long-term
well-being.
7. Contact with family and friends
7.1 Linked with the question of the care plan, as was made clear by many
of the written
comments, was the question of continuing contact with birth family
members, previous carers
and friends. Question 8 was carefully framed to allow those who did not
wish to have contact
with a particular individual to leave it blank, since it asked the
respondents to say if they “see
enough of the people you care about and want to see”.
The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations emphasis the importance
of maintaining
contact between a child and family members and other important people,
unless this is clearly
contrary to the child’s interests6. In view of this, the findings suggest that this is an area where
practice appears to be poor. 60% of the children did not see enough of
their fathers and over
a third of the sample did not see enough of their mother or their
siblings (39% and 37%
respectively). A substantial proportion did not see enough of the
friends they cared about and
over half did not see enough of a previous carer. It appears that either
the children’s opinions
were not sought, or their views were over-ruled. Further analysis provided
more details.
• Half of the children of minority ethnic
origin reported that they did not see enough of their
mothers – a statistically significant difference from the white British
children (p<.05).There
6See Department of Health (1990), ‘The Care of Children: Principles and Practice in
Regulations and
Guidance’, London:
HMSO.
NSPCC Your Shout!
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was no difference in respect of sibling contact.
• 230 girls (55%) compared with 129 boys
(45%) said that they did not see enough of their
fathers.
• 160 girls (38%) compared with 96 boys
(33%) said that they did not see enough of their
mothers (p<.001).The same applied to sibling contact with 40% of the
girls and 32% of the
boys reporting that they did not have enough contact with siblings
(p<.001).
• Children in the youngest age group were
less likely to report that they did not see enough
of their mother (33% compared with 39% for the group as a whole).There
was a similar
pattern in terms of sibling contact.
• There was a (non-significant) tendency
towards those with a disability reporting that they
did not see enough of their mothers (45% compared to 38%). However there
was no
difference in respect of sibling contact with 37% of those with a
disability and 37% of those
not reporting that they had a disability or health problem saying that
they did not see
enough of sibling(s).
7.2 The children were invited to identify people who had helped them in
the context of
contact.Their responses are given in Table 14 (see next page).
Contact and links with friends and family emerge from the written
responses as the major
preoccupation of young people looked after by local authorities, many of
whom took every
opportunity offered by the questionnaire to emphasise their wish to go
home. If that were not
possible, and many recognised that it wasn’t, they wrote of their need
to see more of family
members, friends from their home areas and former carers.This is
reflected in some of the
children’s comments about their parents:
“I wish I stayed with my Dad.”
“[I would like] My mum to get a good Job so she could
feed us and buy some cloths and other
things.And my dad to stay with my mum to keep the
family together.”
“I would have loved every part of my life to be
different because then I’d be able to see and live
with my Mam.”
The results of the adult questionnaire suggest that there is a high
level of professional awareness
Mother 256 39% (responses = 647)
Father 359 60% (responses = 596)
Siblings 238 37% (responses=644) (one person answered
differently in respect of different
siblings and from the comments this
probably applied to others)
Other relatives 321 49% (responses =656)
Friends 186 28% (responses =663)
Former foster carers 347 57% (responses =606)
Table 13: Insufficient contact between young people
and family and friends.
Insufficient contact with Number % Number repsonding
Your Shout! NSPCC
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of the need to give a higher priority to contact between siblings and
endorse the views of the
young people expressed here. Some children were not seeing their siblings
at all:
“if I had a choice I would of liked to had met the
people who have looked after me but still be
living with my mum step dad new sister and brother
[name] because I can’t see [name] at all.”
“I wish I lived with my mum cos we get on now + I miss
my baby brothers. I miss them that
much that sometimes I want a baby myself.
The sense of responsibility that siblings feel for each other appears to
be underestimated and is a
major factor in the children’s emotional wellbeing.
There is evidence that the chronic anxiety of separation being
experienced by so many children
may itself undermine their capacity to make new relationships or to
settle in new places. It may
also lead to their running away in order to reassure themselves about
what is going on at home:
“Been able to see family more often. Because i missed
them felt like running away. I ran away
Twice.Then I couldn’t stop crying the first few
nights.”
In their written statements in other parts of the questionnaire, some
children made references to
contact with friends – either their desire to have more or fewer. A
small number wrote of their
fear of being found and harmed by someone who had harmed them in the
past and not
wanting to see a parent.
“yes I would Have liked To be bought up differently
And never bin betten up or sexuly abused.
That is realy all but I never want to see my parants
agian.”
Social worker
Family member
Carer
Friend
Named person
Staff
Teacher
Leaving care team
Boyfriend
Children’s Guardian
Myself
Police
Psychiatric counsellor
Drugs worker
YOT team
Total responding
left blank = 567
46
29
20
19
17
10
7
4
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
139
33.0
21.0
14.0
14.0
12.0
7.0
5.0
3.0
2.0
1.5
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
Person who helped Whole sample % of those responding
Table 14: Response to the question: “Has anyone else
helped?”
NSPCC Your Shout!
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However, most who commented about contact would have liked to return to
live with parents,
be reunited with siblings or have more general family contact:
“See my mother and farther more.”
Some were not asking for a lot of contact:
“See my real dad once a year as well.”
Others wanted help to arrive at an appropriate level of contact.
“I would have liked more with my mum and going to live
with her. My Dad I would have
liked things to be taken step by step and then
eventually seeing him whenever I want to.”
“See my friends more (school friends) would have liked
to see my family more as well.”
“I would like to of changed most of my past as I have
been in and out of foster placements and
childrens homes from when I was 4. I have only seen my
mum once since I was 4 and I only
found out I had 3 brothers when I was 10. I would of
liked to of known my family before now
but I cant change the past I’m still getting
introduced to aunties, uncles and cousins I didn’t
know about till this very day.”
“being with my nan more”
“I would have liked to see more of my family”
“Seeing my Mum and Grandparens more often”
“I wish I never left my real faimly.More contact with
my Brother”
“longer time with dad ann mum and to see my previous
fosterus”
Some referred to the detail of contact:
“I would like to see my mum more often. I would like
to see her much longer in time because it
used to be 8.00 till 9:30pm but now it’s
9:30am-5:30pm.
Others would have liked it to take place in the family home.
“Seeing my family in the week not just at the week
ends. I miss them lots. Sorry about my
writing I got upset and angry with it.Why were you
asking me and I brothers these qestions.”
“I would like to see my mum on weekends + sleep over +
also on summer hols I would like to
see my brother without a social worker thats it I
gess”
This had the added advantage, for teenagers, of the possibility of
seeing their friends.
“I want to see my friends.”
Your Shout! NSPCC
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There were few explanations in the comments about why contact had not
been as frequent as
they had wished, except that they referred to themselves and “those that loved me”
not being
consulted. Distance was sometimes a problem and one young woman
complained that she had
not been given the fare to go to go abroad to see her family. In another
case complexity got in
the way:
“[I would like] to see my family more often But it’s
hard for me becoz my Dad and his
girlfriend and my Brother live some where else than me
and my other Two Brothers live some
where else as well”
From some comments it could be seen that the attitudes of carers towards
birth parents had
made contact difficult and children had divided loyalties.
“Me and my sisters Bean split up.And I wish they had
moved me to a diffent foster Partents. I
went in to care for a year and a half. it ws my first
time in care and I didn’t have a good time.
Becauce the foster Mum + Dad, did not like me or my
mum.They was always calling her
names, But it would put me in the middle. But now I
live with my mum and two sisters,And
I see my brother 2 times a year.”
Some were aware that contact was not as frequent as they would have
liked because of the
attitude or behaviour of parents:
“The way my family had taken it. (what I had done)
which was being bad by running off. But
I don’t see any of my brother and sisters. But sent
them Christmas pressys But didn’t get no
phone call off them to say thank you or nothing. But I
would of liked to of been able to see my
brothers and sisters. And to still be able to have
contact.”
“nothing just right for me anyway but I wish my mum
would make an effort to see me.”
It was not entirely clear why so many had lost contact with younger
siblings. In some cases it
was because siblings were still in the family home and the parents were
refusing to let the
siblings stay in touch with a child who wished to remain in care.
“Not to go back to my mother but to see [named]. And
to stay in care.”
It was also clear from the context of other comments that some young
people had lost contact
with younger siblings placed elsewhere in care - possibly for adoption,
judging from the sense
of finality in their comments.
“Second [of things that should have been done
differently] of all seperating us from our loved
and cherished brothers.”
The comments about wishing to see fathers were made more poignant as it
was clear that some
of the young people had lost contact with the fathers they cared about
long before they came
into care, while some felt emotionally close to fathers they may never
have known or lost touch
with when they were infants.This young woman of mixed parentage wanted
to get back in
touch with her black father and relatives.
“I really wish that social services could find my Dad.
I’ve never met him although my Mum
NSPCC Your Shout!
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tells me he used to take me to the nursery. I really
want to know him because he is apart of my
Life. It’s hard knowing that I have a father, but he’s
not there. I’ve got my Mum, uncles,
Grandad and my foster carers and their family so I
feel fine, I have two families, but I still
worry and wonder about my Dad. He’s not there to call
me his special girl, to give me advice, to
talk to me and sometimes it’s really hard. I am mixed
race and I want to know more about my
background. Half of my history, culture and race is
missing.”
The level of anxiety which many young people expressed about the welfare
of their family
members and the extent to which they were clearly missing them was one
of the most
distressing aspects of the survey findings and one which has
considerable implications for policy
and practice in this area. Some children were feeling very distressed
about what was happening
at home and felt they needed to be there:
“I would like to be out of care before I am 11 years
old If I am not I shall not be very pleased
because I only get to see my mum 3 days a week and I
am only allowed to see my dad every
fortnight Friday and at the moment I have not seen For
6 Fridays and knowing that my dad
has cancer and I worry a lot about my dad I always
think that he is going to die.”
“In the future I wud licke to go and look after miye
mum wen I am 16 years.”
In these days of high technology and high speed communications through
mobile phones, text
messaging and emailing, there are numerous low cost options available to
enable contact.The
question arises as to what extent it is necessary for children to be as
isolated as some clearly are.
8. Safety in care and exposure to continuing harm
8.1 It was reassuring that the majority of children felt safe in care.
However, the fact that over
one in five did not feel safe in care is a reminder of the importance of
ensuring that removing
children from significantly harmful experiences in the family home is
not the end of the story
and that the ‘balancing’ required by the Act must play a constant part
of the planning and
review process.Whilst some of the responses made it clear that the
children still felt at risk of
harm from parents, the majority of written responses related to possible
harm from other
individuals, including current carers. Moreover, some children who now
felt safe had been at
risk from carer behaviour in the past.The analysis indicated that some
groups of children were
more likely to feel safe when in care than others.
• Children of minority ethnic origin were
more likely than white British children to report
that they did not consider that “care made them feel safe” (29% compared
with 22% of the
white British children: p<.05).
I feel safe (71.8%)
I don’t feel safe (20.8%)
Blank (7.4%)
• Girls were more likely than boys to
respond negatively to the question as to whether being
in care made them feel safe (23% of girls compared with 18% of boys:
p<.01).
• There was a tendency (that did not reach
statistical significance in light of small numbers
with a disability) for children with a disability to respond that care
did not make them feel
safe (31% compared with 21%: p=.146).
• Younger children were more likely than
older children to report that being in care made
them feel safe (87% of the 6-11 age group, 76% of those aged 12-14, 73%
of those aged
15-16 and 70% of those aged 17 or over).
8.2 The children’s additional comments about the issue of safety in care
are summarised on
the next page. 30% were broadly positive, with a further 15% ‘sometimes
feeling safe’.Around
20% of the responses were either negative about care or indicated that
the young person did
not feel safe in care.Around a quarter of the comments were not
specifically related to safety,
including those about wanting more contact and the ‘strangeness’ of
being in care.
In their additional comments, some of the young people took the
opportunity to reinforce the
fact that they would rather be with their family or that they wanted
more family contact.
Exposure to violence
While care made more people feel safe than unsafe, one of the striking
findings of this survey
was the extent to which the young people who responded refer to
incidences of violence and
experiences of abusive behaviour both before and after coming into care.
67 young people
(9.5%) made specific reference to incidents or experiences of violence
or abuse:
“When I was at home life was very hard for me I was
all alone and my family hated me. I had
a social worker but you would not think so, she never
met up with me, it was always my
parents, she never believed anything what I did and
let her and I got called a spolit brat by her.
When my sister tried to kill me, I told her and she
said there was nothing she could do because it
was or ready happened.When your in a place where you
were not aloud to eat use the electricity
been named”it” or”thing” been physically and amotionly
abused. It is not what you need. I
thought it ws dicrasfull, and people want you to trust
social service, How can you when got
treated like dirt by someone who is met to look out
for you.Whe I ran away I phoned up EDT
to get some support and advice from them and all I got
was anougher night will not do you any
harm, when before I said my Dad was beating me and
said he was going to kill me!”
“When I was in care I did not feel safe. Until my last
placement in my longest placement I was
treated very badly. I was bitten by a dog lots of
times and not allowed to go out to play. I was
made to stand in the corner if I answered back. My
last carer talked to me and believed me. She
Your Shout! NSPCC
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Males
Females
Total
responding
(left blank = 53)
217
289
507
60.0
75.0
78.0
52
95
147
40.0
25.0
22.0
269
384
653
100.0
100.0
100.0
Sample Yes % No % Total %
Table 15: Response to the question: “Does/did being in
care make you feel safe?”
told Social Workers and the Police what I was saying.
It made me feel strong again. I also got
excellent contact with my nan.”
“At first it did until my foster dad raped and sexualy
abused me for nearly 1 year! so I think I
would have been better off with my mum!”
“I never at any time felt unsafe prior to be taken
into care”
“I hated it in [name] childrens home in [place] and
all the staff hated me. they never lisened to
me they didn’t keep none of my conferdential stuff
conferdential. also other Yps Beat me up in
the middle of the night and the staff wouldn’t ancer
the sleeping Room door even when I
knocked very hard and shouted to them.”
Safety and the family: the relevance of close
attachments
Whilst some wrote of violent home lives and their relief at coming into
care, for others the
question of safety and key attachment was clearly linked.
Understandably, some of the younger
children associated safety with their mother’s presence:
“Not realy I don’t need to feel safe i was safe at my
mums before coming into care”
“I also used to feel safe at home as well. I felt a
bit more safe at home because I was with
Family.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
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Positive about care
I sometimes feel safe
I’d rather be with my family
Negative about care
Feelings of strangeness in care
There is less violence in care
Positive about carer
I’ve been hit or bullied in care
Negative about staff
I want more family contact
Negative about social worker
Critical of specific issues in care
There is a risk of violence in care
Positive about social worker
I want my family to behave better
I want to behave better
I was sexually abused in care
I was moved around too much in care
Other
Total responding
(left blank = 496)
64
32
24
21
19
12
11
7
5
4
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
1
28
210
30.0
15.0
11.0
10.0
9.0
6.0
5.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
1.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
13.0
Comment Whole sample % of those responding
Table 16: Other responses about safety in care.
“I would have felt alot more safer if I was living
with my mum. Because I can garantee that my
mum would protect me as any other mum would do. She’s
my and of cause I would feel safer
with her.”
“[no] because my mum makes me feel safe.”
Even when they were not with their mother, knowledge that she was there
was comforting.
The impact caused by the death of a parent can leave children feeling
deeply exposed to threats
from the outside world.The findings indicate that the experiences of
bereavement, loss and
separation suffered by all children and young people in public care are
still underestimated.The
young people’s testimonies forcefully illustrate the reality and
isolation of living each day with
that experience of loss, as a result of which some children and young
people are locked into a
chronic state of grief and mourning:
“I felt a lot more safer in care while my mum was
alive. However after she passed away 12 wks ago
I don’t feel as safe. cause more people know where I
live e.g family members I don’t get on with.”
Even for those children who felt safe in care, many commented on the
additional dimension of
safety and emotional security provided by being with those who are
familiar to you.
“In a way it makes me feel safe but being with your
family that you know and trust it a lot
safer.”
“I think I would also feel safe with my mum. I don’t
mind being in care though. (I like my
foster parents)”
Grandparents were particularly mentioned in this context:
“Yes becouse I live with my nan and grandad so when I
move herE 4 years ago I new were I
was going and I was very happy and still am safe and
happy to live in my nan and grandads.”
Some children identified their lack of safety as the factor which led to
their running away from
care:
“I use to run away but now I stop”
“No because ive been wanting 2 do Summot Stupid”
Some children associated safety with feeling needed:
“I am not living with my family – being in care I
cannot cope with the change. I need to help
my family and go to the shops for my mum. So how can I
feel safe and needed.”
Drink and drugs
The negative influences of drink and drugs were clearly associated with
lack of safety:
“[I feel safe] except one time when my foster dad got
drunk he scared me and so I ran away
from him.”
Your Shout! NSPCC
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“If I wasn’t put in care I would have starved to death
long ago (7 years).You would never
believe how drunk my mum would get back then”
Impact of past negative experience
For some, past experiences meant that they felt they would always have
difficulties in feeling safe:
“[No] Because you’re always around strange people you
dont know About.”
“I got raped when I was 13 - I’ll never feel safe
around men I don’t know well.”
“No matter how secure you may feel, simple words or
things keeps the fear of your past”
Environment
Some children associated safety with their immediate environment:
“Where I am, I’m away from the violence and drugs and
dangers of the estate where my mum
lives. And I now go to school to keep up my grades”
“but when I first moved into a childrens home I was
Frightened cause I was away from
[place]”
Physical care
Good physical care also emerged as a factor in feeling safe:
“I enjoy living with my auntie and uncle because they
are very kind and give me what I need
e.g food, clothes, money.”
“They look After me properly e.g Give me a nice Bed,
nice Food,We Have nice Holidays, nice
treats.”
“If I wasn’t put in care I would have starved to death
long ago (7 years).You would never
believe how drunk my mum would get back then”
Power of local authority to protect
Some young people clearly felt safer knowing that they had the power of
the local authority
behind them:
“Yeah cos nobody dares touch you cos your in care they
know that your people will get the
polive involved. But I dont feel safe when you fall
out with another resident or their friends or
when somone new comes in.”
Over-protection
The bureaucratic nature of residential care was clearly irksome to some
children, who felt they
could be too safe:
NSPCC Your Shout!
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“Sometimes I feel too safe and as though I can’t do
anything without someone watching me.
Everything has to be planned out so much more and
forms filled in. I hate having to Leave
phone numbers wherever I go and before I stay anywhere
the police having to check my friends
house. I may feel safe but not happy.”
As one 16 year old pointed out, whether in or out of care, much depends
on the quality of the
carer:
“To feel safe is not just to be looked after, but to
be looked after by the right kind of person.
People can still be bullied (even more) when they are
in care.”
Although researchers have looked at issues of violence and safety for
children before and after
coming into care, they have usually focused on the child’s status i.e.
‘at risk’, ‘the subject of
proceedings’ or ‘looked after’ rather than looking at the child’s total
experience of violence and
feeling unsafe.What these findings illustrate is that safety has many
facets, all of which
contribute to the child’s sense of security and wellbeing.
9. Looking back
The young people identified the following factors they would like to
have been different in
their lives.
Qualitative analysis
Some of the key issues such as care planning, stability, contact and
safety have been referred to
earlier.We draw out here some of the more general issues.
The most significant factor which young people would have liked to
change was going into
care. However, many were also realistic about the reasons for going into
care and the limited
options available:
“I would liked to have stayed as a family but I didn’t
have much choice.”
“There is loads of things I would of like to change
but theres no point drodging up the past.
The futures more important!”
It was striking that many young people identified their parents’
separation or the ill health
or death of one of their parents as the point where things started to go
wrong in their lives:
“Not leaving my mum and dad. and my mum and dad not
splitting up.”
“I wish my mum could get over her alchohol problem and
I wish my dad would still be alive.
He didn’t deserve to die and will never be the same
without him.”
Over and over again the responses reflect the wish for ‘normality’:
“My life I would of liked it to be normal e.g mum +
dad together and [names] (brothers) and
[names] (me)”
Your Shout! NSPCC
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Many young people exhibited a high level of self awareness and understanding
of how their
own behaviour may have impacted on what had happened to them:
“I sould have been more diffrerd I sould have changed
my Behaver becouse I used to hiT my mum
for nothing but I haved changed my behaver I am nerley
17 And cant wait till get out off care”
“I wouldn’t have started taking heroin - thats the
worse thing to have affected my life.”
It was encouraging that there were many positive comments about care:
“I think being in care is Brillant & I wouldn’t
change anything”
NSPCC Your Shout!
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I wish I’d not gone into care
“Nothing”
I wish I’d had more family contact
I wish I’d behaved better
I wish my family had behaved better
I wish I’d lived in a proper family
More support
Everything
Negative about social workers
I wish I’d not moved around so much
Negative about carers
I wish I’d been listened to more
I am positive about the past
I wish I’d been treated better
I wish I hadn’t been physically abused
I wish I’d had contact with friends
More freedom to play
More information
I wish I had stayed in care
Critical of court/legislation
Concentrate on education
Live with another family member
Gone into care more quickly
Better food
I wish I hadn’t being bullied
I wish I hadn’t been sexually abused
I wish I’d had a room of my own
Less family contact
Other
Total responding
(left blank = 185)
118
82
60
40
37
31
22
21
18
18
17
15
13
12
12
11
9
8
7
5
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
1
45
521
23.0
16.0
11.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
4.0
4.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
Table 17: Response to the question: “Looking back,
what would you have liked to
be different?”
Comment Whole sample % of those responding
“nothing, I have A good life And it coulnt be better
in Any wAy.”
However, a sense of powerlessness came through in some responses:
“I’ve been in care for 6 years and I would like things
to be diffrent by my mum and dad to
stop argiuing and, so they didn’t split up. I wish I
had a normal family and not going to
meetings all the time andwaiting in for the social
worker.”
Some children raised very practical points:
“Better times to stay out And also I think we should
get I bit more pocket money. And more
clothes money, every yeAr, because kid’s these day’s
are into smart clothes like, Nike, Reebok
and many more I Just think should get about £100-150
to spend on clothes. more eAch
yeAr”
At a time when sport, gym and leisure pursuits are very highly valued by
young people
generally, perhaps more consideration could be given to enabling young
people in public care
to participate on equal terms with others – having the right equipment
and clothes are part
of youth culture.
10. Looking forward
The young people identified the following factors they would like to be
different in the future.
There was a very high response rate to this question and some gave
several responses.
Qualitative analysis
In answering the question “Looking forward how would you like things to
be different?” the
most significant findings were the wish of the young people for more
family contact or to live
with their family.These two categories account for 30% of those who
responded, once again
establishing contact as a major preoccupation for those in public care.
Indeed, for many it was
the only thing they said they wanted to change, although some made it
clear that wanting more
contact did not necessarily mean that they were unhappy in their
placement.
The findings indicate that the young people had very modest aspirations
and hopes for the
future. Some had ambitions to be pop stars, but the vast majority wanted
a ‘normal’ family life,
an education, job and happiness.
Some expressed a desire to work in the field of health and social care
as part of a desire to ‘get
it right for other children’.
Further education did not have a high profile.Only one young person
specifically mentioned
university, although a few referred to college. Many spoke of the need
for education as a means
to getting on in life:
“Things are different now. Ive applied for College
next year. I have 2 jobs. I have support. I see
a Counsellor to help me to get over my past. I have an
effectionate caring, and Supporting
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boyfriend of 17. and This time next year ill have my
own counsel flat. Im So Glad for all the
support of all the carers who are out there.”
Some responses showed great insight into the need to put the past into
perspective before moving
on to the future. Some people felt they were being moved on too
early.One 17 year old expressed
a wish not to live “on my own” when she was 18. Family secrets and a
lack of knowledge of ones
own family can be important factors in the process of growth and
maturation:
I’d like more family contact
I’d like to live with my family
“Nothing”
I want to get a job
I’m positive about my situation
I want to focus on my studies
I want to get a home
I want more contact with friends
I would like to stay in care
I want to behave better
I want to leave care
I wish I had a better social worker
I want to be happy
I want a new start
I would like to be listened to more
I want more support
Better relations with others
Live with other people
More fun and treats
I want to earn money
I want to be treated better
I hope my family will behave better
I would like a family of my own
I want to be normal
Everything
I’d like to help other people
I want a job as a carer or helping children
I want better personal space
A boyfriend
No more family contact
No more carer contact
I want to live under different rules
I want to feel more safe
I don’t want to be moved again
Total
(left blank = 38)
85
70
41
38
29
27
25
23
21
21
21
21
19
15
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
11
10
9
7
6
6
6
4
4
3
3
2
2
668
13.0
10.0
6.0
6.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
<1.0
Comment Whole sample % Responding
Table 18: Response to the question: “Looking forward,
how would you like things to
be different?”
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“I would really Like to be a T.V. journaliste on ITN.
I would love to be rich and donate
£2,000,000 to social services to help other children
in care. I think that it is important for
every young person to get what they deserve. I would
love to get in contact with my Dad and
find out about my history and my Mum.There are a lot
of secrets in my family and no one is
willing to share them with me. I want to know why my
Mum is manic-depressive, I want to
know why Nan and Grandad split up. I want to know why
none of my uncles apart from two
came to see me when I was younger. I want to prove to
everyone who had stereotypical views
about me to be put to shame and shown that foster
children can get really far if they just believe
in themselves. I want to live a wonderful life where
all my dreams come true. I’m sick of the
constant nightmares in my life and it’s about time
that I woke up smiling instead of crying”
“Looking forward I would like to see things different
by Behaving myself and stop hanging
around with bad companies and not putting my self at
Risk. I’ll also stop smoking and
drinking because I’m only young and it’s not nice
seeing a young girl smoking and drinking
and also self harming.”
Permeating all the responses was a strong sense of honesty and realism.
Even some of those who
felt worst about public care showed a sense of resilience and purpose:
“Well I can Personally say that over all 7 years not
much can get worse, so im going to forget
everything move on and make a life of my own (MINE)
and not under rules!! I want to work
with the care become a strong person and help those
that are in care and do right where ive seen
social workers fail! I know what it is like and i can
help them in a BiG way.Then i want to
write true life stories and probably foster child and
make their life a happier one and make them
feel loved and cared like their meant to be!!!”
The children’s verdict on the Children Act 1989
There is much in the responses from the young people to indicate that
the principles on which
the Children Act is based are in line with what they want for
themselves.The many comments
about sadness at not being able to live with their parents or wanting to
return to them indicate
that the emphasis on supporting the family unit and providing services
to help parents to meet
the needs of their children is appropriate. From their comments, some
clearly thought that little
more could have been done to keep their families together, but a larger
proportion of
respondents made it clear that they thought that they and their families
could still be living
together if more help had been available.
Some would have liked more help for themselves as individuals within the
family home, to
avoid being singled out as the only family member in care.
“I would have liked to have proved I could have
behavioured”
The young people also gave strong support to the Act’s emphasis on
consultation with
themselves and those who were important to them. Overall, it was
encouraging to see that
roughly a quarter of the sample had been to court and that a quarter of
these said they had
spoken to the judge.Traditionally there has been resistance to the idea
of involving children
directly in care proceedings.This finding indicates that practice may be
slowly changing and
that judges are more prepared to give children who want to be involved
the chance to attend
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the court hearing and to speak to them.
There are mixed messages about children being enabled to express their
views with the
expectation that they will have an impact on decisions taken in court
and in respect of their
care planning. Overall, the evidence points to a ‘could and indeed must
do better’ verdict.This
applies especially to decisions about whether, how often, and where they
have contact with
family and friends.The neglect of fathers and previous foster carers as
people with whom
children want more contact should especially be taken on board.Above
all, the distress caused
by separation from, and inadequate contact with, much-loved siblings
should increase the
priority given to maintaining sibling contact.This appears to be an area
where children’s wishes
are frequently being disregarded.
Another significant area in which children’s feelings are being
overlooked is in relation to the
grief and anxiety many of them displayed in relation to their
experiences of bereavement, loss
and separation.The distress, which is an every day reality to them, may
not be so clearly visible
to those caring for them, yet, as the responses illustrate, it can be a
major determinant of their
behaviour and happiness in their placement.This remains a challenge for
future practice.
Lack of information about what was going on and who was making the
decisions that would so
profoundly affect them exacerbated for many the stress caused by delays
in the court processes
and in identifying carers who could meet their needs.
We did not specifically ask about the type of placement in which the
young people were living,
but it was clear from the responses that some had returned home and that
others were living
with relatives.The children’s comments indicate that the emphasis in the
Act on supporting
relatives in caring for those who cannot be with their birth parents
also fits in with the wishes
of young people.
“Like I said I live with my nan so it’s not that easy
to anser Qs about care, but I have been in
care so some are not that bad. BUT Please keep sending
these book things cos I like them a
lot!! It gives me some thing to do!! the reson Iv put
this Is cos I liv with my nan not in care.”
“I should not have been taken from my nan. My grandad
was ill and he died soon after I was
taken away. My grandad should have beed the one to go
not me.My nan tried to get me back I
have lots of emotions about all of this. Sometimes it
makes me worry that someone else may be
going through the same things as I did because no-one
is listening to them”
The emphasis in the Act on placing children with families of similar
ethnic and cultural
background was also supported by the young people, who gave evidence of
racist attitudes and
behaviour amongst some carers.
“Looking back it would of started when I was put and
took away from my mum and into care,
and from the minuet I was put into care I was
bullied/and my sister as well.The family was
racist! ‘Big Mistake’”
However, the parts of the Act that allow children to be accommodated in
order to help them or
their parents, or to protect them from harm, are also welcomed by those
who completed the
questionnaires. Almost four out of five responded positively to the
question ‘Does being in care
make you feel safe?’ and their written comments indicated that many of
the young people
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know that their needs cannot be adequately met or they cannot be kept
safe in the family
home.The prevalence of violence to which so many of our respondents had
been subjected,
first at home and then, for an important minority, whilst in care, is
perhaps one of the most
challenging aspects of their statements.
“I think the Best place is At home with my Family But
in the circumstances it’s better to be in
care until things are sorted out.”
For several of our respondents, being looked after has brought many
positives.The statements of
these children are an important antidote to the negative message often
portrayed in the media
and by politicians.The majority of the young people wrote of the hurt
they still felt about
having to be away from home, of the troubles they had had along the way,
but also of their love
for their carers, their sense of achievement and the strength the care
experience had given them.
A 12 year old girl was typical of the majority of respondents. She said
her foster parents had
helped her. She knew what her care plan was and was happy with it. She
saw her mother and
her siblings often enough, but did not see enough of her father and
other relatives. She wrote ‘I
feel safe in care because I’ve got a big family around
me’. Looking back at what she would have
liked
to be different she wrote ‘stayed at home’, but looking forward at how
she would like things to
be different she said ‘nothing’.
One 17 year old girl ticked both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to the question ‘does
being in care make you feel
safe?:
Some of the foster carers I was with did not treat me
well, or fairly, compared to their own
children. I have been in care for 9 years am now old
enough to fight back, so, no, sometimes
with carers I did not feel safe. . Looking back I feel
that being in care has made me the person I
am. Happy and grateful to have a life. I am much
wiser, I didn’t let people walk over me.And I
know life is tough and things don’t always go your
way. I loved and hated care. But now I live
in shared accommodation. Looking forward Being in care
has made me someone I wanted to be.
I’ve had to grow up really fast and be responsible for
my actions which in life some people don’t
really learn till later life.”
The young people’s responses and statements have illuminated our
understanding of how the
Children Act 1989 works for children. In some areas the survey has been
reassuring, but in
others it has thrown up key challenges for practice in the next
decade.The findings indicate that
what is required is not so much amendment of the Act but a
re-affirmation of some of its
guiding principles.
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Children’s statements – young people’s responses to
questions 9, 10 and 11
In order to ensure confidentiality all place and proper names have been
removed.Any illegible
parts of their testimony are indicated by ‘[ill.]’.With these
exceptions, the statements are
reproduced exactly as the young people wrote them.
QUESTION 9: “Does/did being in care make you feel
safe? Any other comments?”
8 YEARS OLD
“I don’t feel safe because of my setsister.”
9 YEARS OLD
“happy.”
“it Dont make fill safe pepole come to my house Because strange”
10 YEARS OLD
“It made me a lot safer than I was befor.”
“in childrens homes no. since living with [names] yes.”
“I want to go home but I want to be safe.”
“being in care makes me feel safe and diffrent”
“I go out side alone”
“I feel safe becuse they try to Protect me. dont they And I realy trust
Them.”
“a little bit.”
“At night it is Scary but it’s cool”
“Safer than what I did.”
“I was put in danger in my first hom. I am home with my mum now”
“I also used to feel safe at home as well. I felt a bit more safe at
home because I was with
Family.”
“Definitly Because no-one will be able to beat me up.”
“I bo not feel safe because I am not with my mum.”
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“I want to see my friends.”
“I feel safe”
“I get upset when the fire goes off at night.”
“I have a good family and I get looked after well and I don’t smell and
I have clean clothes”
“No. I Just wanted to say that my new Address is: [name and address] you
sended me this to the
wrong Address and my last foster carer sended here.”
11 YEARS OLD
“NO”
“No”
“No”
“[yes] because I have never been in care before and I knew I was going
to be safe in foster
care”
“[no] because my mum and dad would come here and break [name]’s arm.”
“It makes me feel safe because I am being looked after properly and
treated nicely.”
“it makes me feel Really safe knowing these someone to Run to.”
“[yes] Because my carers give me nice clothing and they keep me safe.”
“Not realy I don’t need to feel safe i was safe at my mums before coming
into care”
“I’m not really sure.”
“beaucse I feel safe in care.”
“I’m getting more help then I had”
“[no] because i am safe with my mummy”
“A bit. At first I did not know who some the people were being in foster
care.”
“I like living with [name] and enjoy her company. [name]’s house is
safe!”
“They look After me properly e.g Give me a nice Bed, nice Food,We Have
nice Holidays, nice
treats.”
“We Live in a small close so I can play in the close so it’s Pretty
safe.”
“Yes I felt a little bit safer and more loved and know im a lot happier”
“Sorry not being rude but why are you asking these qeston and who are
you.”
“yes”
“I feel safe a home”
“Because I know they will Look after me”
“Made me feel the same because some carers are nasty.”
12 YEARS OLD
“My carer looks after me well But I miss my family”
“It makes me feel normal because i’ve been in care since I was born, and
my Mum + Dad
would never lay a finger on me!”
“at the time”
“Sometimes.”
“yes sometimes it did but sometimes it didn’t but I can feel safe now.”
“I never at any time felt unsafe prior to be taken into care”
“I sort of file safe. But I don’t no”
“I didn’t feel safe because I didn’t even know the people who I lived
with also it was pretty
lonely because I had no-one to play with.”
“Like I said I live with my nan so it’s not that easy to anser Qs about
care, but I have been in
care so some are not that bad. BUT Please keep sending these book things
cos I like them a
lot!! It gives me some thing to do!! the reson Iv put this Is cos I liv
with my nan not in care.”
“Frustrated.”
“I feel safe but I would like to live with my mum.”
“Being in care makes me feel safe and feeling different”
“Yes becouse I live with my nan and grandad so when I move herE 4 years
ago I new were I
was going and I was very happy and still am safe and happy to live in my
nan and grandads.”
“no one could get you. look after by cares.”
“I find being in care a lot more safer because when I was at home I was
very scared.”
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“[no] why should it.”
“I feel secure and safe”
“No because I was perfectly safe with my mum + brother”
“Yes and No because I weren’t sure how long it would last and what it
would be like”
“I am sick of haveing these things”
“The Foster Carers won’t let anything bad happen to me.”
“because if someone is picking on you you can run Home to see them.Then
you can get it
over with”
“it has made me feeel a lot more certain and secure, about things
expecially being at [name]
‘couse they’ve really helped me.”
“no different.”
“Where I am, I’m away from the violence and drugs and dangers of the
estate where my mum
lives. And I now go to school to keep up my grades”
“Sometimes.”
“fell The same”
“In a way it makes me feel safe but being with your family that you know
and trust it a lot
safer.”
“I think I would also feel safe with my mum. I don’t mind being in care
though. (I like my
foster parents)”
“I feel safe in care because I’ve got a big family around me.”
“Yes, because I can go out and know that I am going to meet friends but
Inever knew I could
meet friends”
“I am not in care.”
“being with my nan makes me safe”
13 YEARS OLD
“I enjoy living with my auntie and uncle because they are very kind and
give me what I need
e.g food, clothes, money.”
“I feel happy within myself. And I feel I can get on with my life with
no problems.”
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“I feel safer with my mum.”
“Being in care can be very difficukt at times, as you become envious of
friends of yours who
live with their parents and lead a great life. But at the end of the
day, your foster carer’s are there
for you and no one else, and you have to accept that they’re the next
big thing.”
“I feel safe at school”
“I hated it in [name] childrens home in [place] and all the staff hated
me. they never lisened to
me they didn’t keep none of my conferdential stuff conferdential. also
other Yps Beat me up in
the middle of the night and the staff wouldn’t ancer the sleeping Room
door even when I
knocked very hard and shouted to them.”
“[yes] But I still want to go home”
“I now belong to a family were I feel safe and loved.”
“[yes] because I know my foster carers won’t hurt me.”
“a Little bit”
“Sometimes coz i hated been moved about not knowing where i was going
next and who
these people where so sometimes it was quite scary and upsetting as I
could never settle down
and was always playing up at school and at home”
“[yes] Because Im more certain my Dad cant harm me.”
“I would have felt alot more safer if I was living with my mum. Because
I can garantee that my
mum would protect me as any other mum would do. She’s my and of cause I
would feel safer
with her.”
“in a way i don’t know because i mist my familey + friends and my
school”
“[no] because I’m not at home with my family”
“I Feel saFe be cause what happened to me when I was young when I was
with my mum”
“but when I first moved into a childrens home I was Frightened cause I
was away from [place]”
“what sort of a question is that”
“bollocks”
“They are just like being in a normaly family in a normal family you
don’t know them as well
thouw.”
“Yes but not all the Time”
“I Don’t like being in care because you Don’t go on holladays and it is
borring and being in
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care is borring I want to come out of care soon as possible Please
[name]”
“No”
“Kinda but then it didnt becauses I missed my famiely”
“Yes because my dad codont find me or […]’s dad codont find us ever.”
14 YEARS OLD
“I was fairly safe every day because I had some one that was loving me
not beating me up.”
“When I was in care I did not feel safe. Until my last placement in my
longest placement I was
treated very badly. I was bitten by a dog lots of times and not allowed
to go out to play. I was
made to stand in the corner if I answere back. My last carer talked to
me and believed me. She
told the Social Workers and the Police what I was saying. It made me
feel strong again. I also
got excellent contact with my nan.”
“I Like living with my Grandparents.”
“Sometimes, like this once when this lass who I live with threatened me
with a knife and the
staff done nothing. so that was quite horrible, and I felt really
unsafe.”
“Because I get bullied I don’t feel safe and I get treated unfairly by
staff ”
“why can we have more of this to do?”
“in care I feel safe because I am away from my problems but I feel
scared when I step out into
the Streets Just in case I spot a certain person.”
“It is the same as being at home I think but in a way I feel safer in a
differrent kind of way
because theres more people about it feels more secure”
“I feel safe cos I know people are behind me to look out for me”
“[No] Because you did not know who they are.”
“in Foster care with my Auntie [name] yes.”
“no coz the person is coming after me he nos were i live what school i
go to and every thing.”
“No”
“Not really. I just really like and get on with the children at [name]
childrens home.”
“Being in the placement I am in now with [names] is the Best thing that
has happened to me.”
“yes because I know now my Mum can not come and take me because I am
long term.”
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“At first it did But I didn’t get on with my foster Mum and Dad.”
“I felt the same as when I was At home its not any different”
“I do feel safe”
“because if you think about it youre living with complete strangers”
“yes I Like it in [name] house I feel safe and cared for”
“No Because i have got worse in care because i did not smoke ciggarettes
or Drugs and i did
not Drink Alchol. Because i Don’t Listen to the staff in my home in my
home but i Listen to
my Family.”
“[no] Because I should not have been taken away from mum + stepdad coz ive
done nothing
WRONG!”
“Sometimes I feel too safe and as though I can’t do anything without
someone watching me.
Everything has to be planned out so much more and forms filled in. I
hate having to Leave
phone numbers wherever I go and before I stay anywhere the police having
to check my
friends house. I may feel safe but not happy.”
“[no] I am now in my third secure unit because I kept running away,
hurting other people and
harming myself by cutting. Get the idea?”
“When being in care it makes me feel safe to think that I’m away from
the trouble and hassel
that I have been from.”
“It has made me feel V. Secure and safe and in good hands.”
“I enJoy being in care”
“Beingin care Doesn’t make feel safe because if I was injord our ill our
somethink then they
wouldn’t do much about it so that you go and that the truth O.K.!”
“[no] Because social services do not go into enough research about
family life.”
“not all the”
“in a way it does but I still would feel safe if I weren’t”
“[yes] Because their always their and making me Happy”
“[no] because I couldn’t see my mom”
“I want heLp with my Behaviour”
“I feel More safe living at home with my mum, But I’m not saying I
wasn’t kept or try to be
kept safe in care.”
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“I feel that children in care feel traped because they dont know the
people around them as
much as they would like to.”
“it’s okay.”
“I still want to live at home”
“[yes] It does but it can be a bit too over protected now I’m getting
older I want to sleep
around my friends houses without having a police check because it just
puts you aside to your
other friends and makes you feel and think that you are different from
anyone else.”
“Being in care made me feel uncumfertable, insacur and made me feel like
I wasn’t there like I
didn’t exist.”
“[Yes] Now I am Living with my nan.”
“How can care make you feel safe, it only makes you dislike and hate
especially if you dislike
your social worker because they don’t listen and take your foster mums
side in everything. Put
it this way some social workers say their out to help children but do
they really make a good
job of this!!! Are they really helping or making a hell of a life much
harder than it seems?”
“[no] Because I am not with my mother who is in [place] with my brother
and other family
members from my mothers side.”
“I was bit scared at First. But then I got used to it.”
“I Liked it better at home”
“I never got any fares to buy food or soap, or a toothbrush.”
15 YEARS OLD
“I didn’t feel safe or enjoy being in care ‘cos I was suddenly out of
place with a group of
strangers. I couldn’t relax and I cried all the time. I had a very bad
reaction to it.”
“When being in my care home I feel really safe because other care homes
dont care as much as
others. also this is not fare for the children.”
“I feel safe because No one can hurt me Now Im in care.”
“I use to run away but now I stop”
“Because I was away from my family”
“It makes me feel special”
“Because I am in [name] I can only stay for 2 yrs and I want to stay for
longer”
“[yes] But all I want in this world is to be with my mum. Because I love
her Its horrible not
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having my mum to tell my problems too”
“I am not living with my family – being in care I cannot cope with the
change. I need to help
my family and go to the shops for my mum. So how can I feel safe and
needed.”
“It’s Just the same, but some people you meet make you feel unsafe, eg
yang people.”
“except one time when my foster dad got drunk he scared me and so I ran
away from him.”
“[no] because my mum makes me feel safe.”
“I feel better in care than I would of felt at home”
“[no] should it?”
“no, the same”
“it makes me feel difficult and scared some time’s know one talks to me
so I am puzzled.”
“[no] Because I end up in hospital.”
“yes because always there for suport.”
“[yes] a way from my sept dad”
“Yes, because [names] Make me feel safe”
“I like living with my sister but I didnt like living in foster care”
“No because ive been wanting 2 do Summot Stupid”
“Just the same”
“[yes] because I wasn’t have when I was at home”
“its no different to being at home. you can still get menatally and
phisically hurt.”
“If I wasn’t put in care I would have starved to death long ago (7
years).You would never
believe how drunk my mum would get back then”
“Last but not least I want to say that care is the best solution for all
over the world and
especially for the people that they can help for fostering some people
that they suffer from alot
of staff in their own Life. And it’s good for the people that they need
somebody to support
them from their problems”
“Yes sume time she make me safe because I have a hart oparation so she
has to make sure if I m
not well she has to take back to the hospital and I have to make shower
I been safe and she has
to look afer me and by some clothe and food and she has to make shower”
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“fine”
“But being in care its not easy you are more likely to be picked on by
other kids and at school
you are taken less serious because they think that people who are in
care are different.”
“Childrens board make sure im safe and dont come to no harm.”
“Being in a secure unit made me feel much more safe because I use to
always Run away from
my children’s home and put my self at Risk.”
“Don’t know”
“If it wasn’t for social services, I don’t know where i’d be. Because of
the support from social
services and my foster carers, I have the confidence and pride to hold
my head high and achieve
the best that I can. I have been predicted 6 A’s, 2 B’s, 1 C in my
GCSEs. I am hoping to go to
college and get 4 A Levels in English Language, English Lit, Media and
Drama. I am then
hoping to go to Oxford University. I want to be a journalist. I am
ambitious, because I have
been given support, love and care.”
16 YEARS OLD
“Sometimes, depending on staff on shift and other residents.”
“In one way I know it was the best place for me but in another I feel I
have been trapped for 8
yrs.”
“No matter how secure you may feel, simple words or things keeps the
fear of your past”
“[yes] Because I’ve got nice family”
“because I get Help of the staff in care”
“because people was looking after me.”
“I Like it because they are really nice to me”
“I have learnt alot from being in care and have grown up alot.”
“I don’t feel safe when I change placements as I don’t know where I’am
going”
“yes. Sometimes the Childreen at our unit can be nasty The used to Bully
me 24.7 but now I
get on fine. with Them They can be alRight When they want to be. but
ather Time’s they Just
Rip the Piss aLL The Time.”
“But the system is bogged down by bueracracy.”
“I got raped when I was 13 - I’ll never feel safe around men I don’t
know well.”
“Sometimes. I feel safe sometime I don’t”
“I felt like a troubled kid I knew I wasn’t and social services can be
wicked in ways but in other
ways they can be dicks but they are only there to make sure you are O.K
and don’t get hurt”
“I hate it but there aint anything I can do”
“To feel safe is not just to be looked after, but to be looked after by
the right kind of person.
People can still be bullied (even more) when they are in care.”
“Somtimes.”
“make loads of mates”
“It has been DIFFICULT. It Difficult to Live with peopLe I Don’t know
very well. But they
have tried to help me.”
“[No] Because you’re always around strange people you dont know About.”
“Well yeah and No Because you can’t seem to do anything around in care
It’s just plain
Boringness you can’t seem to do the things that you used to do when you
were living with
your parents you can’t have your own freedom anymore, It makes you feel
Like Shit Really.”
“[no] Because it is shit being in care”
“Because I have foster care’s that Are Like my own parant’s and their
Look at me as part of the
family.”
“Just depreased”
“Mums BoyFriend Raped me.”
“I was betten up buy my Foster carer’s and bulled by school friends”
17 YEARS OLD
“I feel I get treat like a family”
“It is Right Placement”
“[Yes] but being at home did to”
“[yes] because when I was at home me and sisters allways argues befor
bedtime now I live in
care I feel that I dont argurs at all.”
“At first it did until my foster dad raped and sexualy abused me for
nearly 1 year! so I think I
would have been better off with my mum!”
“I felt a lot more safer in care while my mum was alive. However after
she passed away 12 wks
ago I don’t feel as safe. cause more people know where I live e.g family
members I don’t get on
with.”
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“I had a very insecure life before I came here, but know I have less
responsibility and fell much
safer”
“Yeah cos nobody dares touch you cos your in care they know that your
people will get the
polive involved. But I dont feel safe when you fall out with another
resident or their friends or
when somone new comes in.”
“I no that what ever happens I have someone to look out for me and help
me to make
decisions”
“[yes] Because I know someone looking after me and looking out 4 me, and
supporting me.”
“I was put into a bad family who did bad things to me.”
“children’s homes are the worst thing someone can do to a child!”
“Why should being in Care make you feel any safer, I mean I used to get
bulied because I was
in Care, My life would have been probably been easyier if was Never
taken into Care, when I
was in Care socail workers where supposed to be there to help but all
they did was make things
worse.”
“before I moved back into care I lived in [place] area and it’s nothing
but trouble and I hated it
but the only reason why I stayed there is cause that’s where my mum and
that was but I didn’t
like it cause I’ve been raped quite a few times and bensham is one of
the most unsafest area’s
ever and Im glad I got moved away I was also sick of people getting me
into trouble.”
“I feel safe because I know I wont be thrown out of the StReets, I’ll
have help to get a flAt. &
because I’ll get the help & support thAt I need.”
18 YEARS OLD
“It really depends on what aspect of being safe you mean. But basically
yes.”
19 YEARS OLD
“Social worker made me feel safe. better than my Parents who gave me
away.”
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QUESTION 10: “Looking back, what would you have liked
to have been different?”
6 YEARS OLD
“Evereything”
8 YEARS OLD
“nothing nothing”
“not behing In Chilldrens home”
“I would like to live with my mum.”
“mum and her Boyfriend to of stopped fighting. for mum to be careful.”
“to see my Rell mum”
9 YEARS OLD
“I would Like my Forever family straight away insteadof lots of short
term family.”
“my mum dieing and seeing her in hospital.”
“having food, clothes”
“gowinog bak to my mum Foster”
“noThing”
“I would thigs to Be differt like this. I would like to have a Patrol
scooter”
10 YEARS OLD
“I woouLd have Liked to live with nan [name]”
“Dont know”
“the Foster Care”
“To not come into care and to not be hit.”
“my mum not to be like she is and like girls and boys. And have family
around her like her
mum and sisters.”
“I would have liked to have lived with [names] in the first place”
“don’t know”
“My whole life because i played the second parent Role.”
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53
“going home”
“yes my mum getting better”
“I would like to live with my dad and I would like to change the past.
Even to make my mum
still be Alive. xx [name]”
“yes I’d love to.”
“I don’t have nothing to say”
“nothing”
“My very first home I liked it but I would like to change a few things.
I wished I had the same
thing as [name] she got sweets and stuff and I didn’t it wasn’t fair.”
“There is loads of things I would of like to change but theres no point
drodging up the past.
The futures more important!”
“not answering”
“nothing”
“a better home at the start and to off stayed with my mum!!”
“Sister coming back to Live with me”
“I would of liked my Dad and his partner to of not of been arguing and
figHting.”
“longer time with dad ann mum and to see my previous fosterus”
“nothing”
“Doug not moving in the first place”
“A bigger house. No late school. Ready on time for school.”
“Not leaving my mum and dad. and my mum and dad not splitting up.”
“Being in care”
“Nothing.”
“Me not to leeft my mum.”
“all ok”
“I would like to been seen something done so that we can go home. And if
were going to be in
care for quite some time yet I would like to see my friends”
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54
“to not be in care.”
“My house, no abusement.”
“Nothing”
“I wish things were normal in are Family and we all Lived to gether”
“Can we have more staff so staff can stay behind if someone is naughty
and the good children
can go out.”
“Being looked after Being taked out”
“I would of liked to see my mum brother more”
“bieng nice to my friends wish I was with my family.”
“I wish I wasn’t in [names].”
“I would have like to stay in care because I feel much safer there with
my brother now I’m
living with my perants and my bro. dosen’t live with me no more, when we
knew we only had
3 days left in care so my bro got so upset that he ran away: they found
him and hes in care
again.”
11 YEARS OLD
“My carer be nice sometines”
“My mum and dad to be kind to me.”
“nothing much”
“Not stealing an beening so naughty.”
“Staying at home to not run away and smoke and drink from home.”
“nothing”
“noting”
“To come to my present foster carers first, without going to all those
other foster parents
([names])”
“Nothink”
“We would have liked a loving careing home”
“Im happy now”
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“Nothing really everything is/was perfect”
“Not from my Mum and Dad not to beat my sister and me”
“I would liked to have stayed as a family but I didn’t have much
choice.”
“Nothing”
“my life, my family.”
“My mum to change her way and Attiude.”
“I would of liked my mum to not to poorly.”
“Nothing really”
“not a thing”
“to make my mum and Dad be together again”
“To not be in care.”
“Someone younger”
“nothing!”
“live with mum”
“My whole family being in the same place.”
“Me + [name] living together with Nan + Grandad.”
“me to stay with my mum a sister and me to stay there for as Long as I
could.”
“Nothing”
“staying in one foster plaseemet”
“being Looked After being took out”
“See my real dad once a year as well”
“my mam seing me more and contact with brother but that is sorted.”
“For Social Services to have found a permancey quicker”
“No, not really.”
“I would like to have been adopted.”
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“I don’t want to move any more.”
“Don’t no”
“been able to stay with my own family.”
“I’d rather go back home”
“Nothing”
“To have different parents.To live in a different House”
“not being in foster care”
“to sday at my old cllcdran home [place]”
“for my mum not to be on drugs and all to be happy and for her to look
after us.”
“Dont know”
“See my Mum.”
“nothing really”
“I liked not going to barding School and go back to day School and be in
a new school this
year 2002 in year 7 and go to [place].”
“Nothing”
“Nothing much”
“Staying in one foster placement.”
“go back to mum.”
“I wish that I had not told Social Servises About my mum + dad Taking
drugs. And I wish that
My Mum + dad did Not take drugs.”
“Being Back with my Parents Sooner”
“no”
“Nothing.”
“visted england first”
“My Mom not having a drinking problem”
“My carers who look after me I would like them to be there children”
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57
“I have seen more of london and sun, and more of school”
12 YEARS OLD
“STAYED aT Home”
“My foster home with Mary, she was a right old cow!!”
“they hadn’t accused me”
“nothing”
“I would’ve liked to have been able to live with my dad.”
“if my mum [ill.] be nice I [ill.] to live with her.”
“having more pocket money.”
“Nothing!”
“I hate swaping all the time”
“not being belted. not being hit off the sink. being able to have a
choice of food. being able to
go to Girl Guides. not having cold showers. having toy’s to play with.”
“nicer to the people I liked”
“I would have liked to been asked what I wanted i.e. staying with my
brothers and sister”
“no fiting”
“I would have liked to have proved I could have behavioured”
“I have been in foster care for 3 years and in that time I have had 9
socal workers I would like
to have a socal worker which stays longer can you help”
“No fights/rows. Not moving in with [name] (stepdad). Not coming back
from Torque”
“I would have liked to be different if I could live with my mum and to
not to go to court, it
was scary with loads of people. And not live with foster parents.”
“going home with my propper family and getting on with my life.”
“yes I would Have liked To be bought up differently And never bin betten
up or sexuly abused.
That is realy all but I never want to see my parants agian.”
“Seeing my mum at least once in the 2 weeks and 2 day’s I was in care
for.”
“NOT TO HAVE COME INTO CARE.”
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“My step DAD NOT BeeTING up my mom, me, SISTer, brother. Just To be in
Home with
Just my mom + sisters + brother.”
“Nout”
“I would of NOT WaNTed TO geT ARResTed all The Time.”
“yes my mum getting Better”
“I don’t think there is anything”
“Chris stop being naught to me”
“for me to have lived in my nans since I have been born with my sisters
as well together with
my nan and grandad.”
“My hole childhood”
“living with my DAD + MUM + fAMiLY my Dad died when I WAS five years
old.”
“I’ve been in care for 6 years and I would like things to be diffrent by
my mum and dad to stop
argiuing and, so they didn’t split up. I wish I had a normal family and
not going to meetings all
the time andwaiting in for the social worker.”
“go back on holorday go Back To mum and sisters”
“My home + family life!”
“seeing my family more. less in care!”
“I would have liked more infomation”
“Go on Holiday”
“I’d like to go back home and live with my mom + Dad a be afamily again”
“My Mum”
“Nothing”
“”
“me and my mum not to be getting into big arguments and me + my brother
not getting into
fights every day. I want to see everything change so I can have a happy
life with me and my
mum.”
“to see more of family and Friends”
“the cort orders.”
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59
“more Behaved”
“fuck all”
“That my mum stopeD Drinking and that I could stay at home but things
diDent work that
way.”
“I would have liked the foster carer to be different when I was 6. Now
I’m in a foster carers
house and sometimes I really wish that I didn’t come to live here. But
being honest I don’t
mind being where I am because there really loving + caring.”
“I would liked to stop at one school instead of half a duzen schools.”
“Looking back I wish nothing went wrong.”
“My life I would of liked it to be normal e.g mum + dad together and
[names] (brothers) and
[names] (me)”
“me staying with my mun”
“I would have liked to have had more info and would of liked to have
more say in the matter”
“everything that I am now.”
“Not running away because it made things worse. Lying gets you
nowhere.Wetting the bed
because its embarassing when I have to tell the foster carers when I
have done it.”
“I would Like to have Lived with my mum and dad”
“Nothing”
“My Behaviour.My Brothers Behaviour. Mum Drinking. Mum + Dad Arguing.
Social Services
being involved”
“I would have Like to be with Mam and dad and brother and sister”
“nothing”
“dont know!”
“my dad no dieing. and them not to take drugs.”
“LIFE”
“if I had a choice I would of liked to had met the people who have
looked after me but still be
living with my mum step dad new sister and brother [name] because I
can’t see [name] at all.”
“nowt (nothing)”
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“before cort, I could see my mum anytime but after the cart case it has
had to be arranged (it is
every 6 weeks at the moment)”
“for me to have seen more of my other family when I was 4 and just came
in 2 foster care!”
“Me to live with my Parents.”
“I would have Nothing changed because i am happy with evrything”
“Been able to see family more often. Because i missed them felt like
running away. I ran away
Twice.Then I couldn’t stop crying the first few nights.”
“To see all of my family More and not less.”
“I have 2 cars and a Pignhouse”
“I would Like to go Home”
“Stay AT my mums”
“I was sad to leave [names].”
“I would have liked to not be in care.”
“MY DAD NOT DYING”
“having a say in thing will make me a lot Pleased”
“To have More freedom!!”
“Seeing my sister”
“I would have liked to have had a say about being put in care and who I
was with. I was
probally to younge though.”
“I would still like to live with my mam at home were I belong because I
don’t belong in forster
care and neither does my brothers and sisters they don’t deserve it
being in a care home.”
“I do not know realy I think that I would/should have seen my sisters
more often because
seeing them 3 times a year makes me feel as if i am never seeing
them!!!!!!”
“stayed at home”
“NOTHING.”
“being with my nan more”
“If I didn’t do This one Thing I wouldn’t of been In care at all”
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“Everything! I think SO!”
“Just to be in a family!”
“I would like to go and see my DaD”
“I would have liked my mum and dad to stay together and then we could be
one big family”
“More support from the social worker”
“nothing just right for me anyway but I wish my mum would make an effort
to see me.”
13 YEARS OLD
“Beter social worker”
“nothing. I am very happy.”
“Nothing”
“To let children Live with there parents because people willl bulling
you if they find out”
“Being took of My Mother and that My Dad didn’t leave Me when I was
young”
“life”
“To live with my mum.”
“I wish my mum could get over her alchohol problem and I wish my dad
would still be alive.
He didn’t deserve to die and will never be the same without him.”
“I would like my parents to be together or live with my mum or dad when
I am older.”
“I would have liked to have seen my family more because I really miss
them.”
“I wish I never left my real faimly. More contact with my Brother”
“we would like to have loving careing home.”
“me living with my mum + sisters”
“I would like to see ALL of my famly”
“Nothing”
“For my mum to have kept in contact. For me not to have run-away, to
have stayed in [place].”
“Nothing”
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“stay up later to see my dad. who I have never met.”
“staying with dad or see our mum or any of our other family”
“Not haven’t to go go into care”
“Nothing”
“me staying with dad.”
“my brothers living with me”
“noting”
“Nothing. I am completely happy with any decisions”
“Nothing”
“staying at home with mum.”
“maybe staying with my mum and then I might be able to see her more
might even know my
dad. I’d be able to see my sister more. But I wouldn’t know my friends
my foster cousins and
mostly I wouldn’t be able to see or meet my foster parents.”
“get my pocket money when I was supposed to have it”
‘Yes I would Like to see my mum twice a month. because we only see our
mum every 3
months.”
“no”
“To See brother’s More often”
“the way My Mum looked after us”
“My Foster homes to have been better”
“Not been taken from my mum + not been moved about as much”
“go back home for good”
“my Friends from school to come over for 3/4 h a week. bat Im not
alwod.”
“I would of liked there to be no arguments with my mum and Dad that
would of been good at
least me and my Brothers wouldnt of had to go to court and we wouldnt of
had to go into care
when we little.”
“Nothing”
Your Shout! NSPCC
63
“not a lot so get stuffed.”
“My mum to get a good Job so she could feed us and buy some cloths and
other things.And
my dad to stay with my mum to keep the family together.”
“I would have liked more with my mum and going to live with her. My Dad
I would have
liked things to be taken step by step and then eventually seeing him
whenever I want to.”
“for my familey to be like other famileys and on no care orders just to
live happy. Please could
u right back I need someone to talk to at this moment my address is
[address]. please right
back, thank you”
“for foster cares to not be such wankers”
“Nothing really”
“not being in car”
“being at home with my mum and my brothers and sisters and being a
proper family”
“Me being back with my father and see my father.”
“Nothing”
“I would liked to have stayed at home with both my parents.”
“Be at home with my Mom and dad”
“Nothing.”
“for social services to stop moving me but now I am settled in a long
termed Placement that I
like”
“Not been in foster care the Person Im with know I wish she was my Real
mum”
“To have a better child hood”
“I would have liked to continue going to day school.”
“Dunno”
“[name] not having sex with me.”
“2 stay at home! with family!”
“4 me to c my sister”
“Never moved away from my old foster family or school.”
“everything”
“I would like my sister [name] to stay with me, but I would never have
been as happy as I am
now with [name]”
“I miss my mother and father very much.”
“Being out of care. But that is a fat chance.”
“going home with my mum and sister”
“Nothing”
“the house”
“I would like my mum to have found an husband and we could have lived
together.”
“To have a normal childhood”
“I would have liked to see my family more”
“nothing I am not sure”
“Seeing my Mum and Grandparens more foten”
“being in a long term Foster home.”
“Living happily with right Family”
“being with my mum on my own. and to see my Antey on my own. and my
nanny and
granddad”
14 YEARS OLD
“Me and my mum being like a proper family”
“NONE”
“I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM MY NAN. MY GRANDAD WAS ILL
AND HE DIED SOON AFTER I WAS TAKEN AWAY. MY GRANDAD SHOULD HAVE
BEEN THE ONE TO GO NOT ME. MY NAN TRIED TO GET ME BACK I HAVE
LOTS OF EMOTIONS ABOUT ALL OF THIS. SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME WORRY
THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY BE GOING THROUGH THE SAME THINGS AS I DID
BECAUSE NO-ONE LISTENED TO THEM”
“Everything”
“My mum not to have ran away when my step dad asked for a devorce. then
I would still live
with my mum.”
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“Nothing.”
“my mam Looking after me probley have a happy life”
“Not to be in care. Not to self harm. Not to get bullied. Not to get
arrested. to be treated
normally”
“to not been hurt when you are upset”
“No I am happy here”
“To try and make things work and be treated more different.”
“I would like to of changed most of my past as I have been in and out of
foster placements and
childrens homes from when I was 4. I have only seen my mum once since I
was 4 and I only
found out I had 3 brothers when I was 10. I would of liked to of known
my family before now
but I cant change the past I’m still getting introduced to aunties,
uncles and cousins I didn’t
know about till this very day.”
“To be with real family”
“Rather be at home with my FAMILY”
“for my mum and dad to be alive and maybe I wouldn’t be in all this
trouble that I have been
in.”
“I would have liked to have proved I could have behavioured”
“my mum”
“mum to be nicer to me.”
“For my mom not to of let Ian move in with us then i wouldnt have
happend.”
“I think the Best place is At home with my Family But in the
circumstances it’s better to be in
care until things are sorted out.”
“To be treated a lot better in care such as food”
“See my mother and farther more.”
“My whole Life”
“Where I am in care now I wish that I came here first because it is cool
where I live now”
“Nothing.”
“being moved around so much this unsettled me a lot, obviously when I
woz in my younger
years I didn’t have a clue or understand anything that woz going on in
my Life.”
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“Better times to stay out And also I think we should get I bit more
pocket money.And more
clothes money, every yeAr, because kid’s these day’s are into smart
clothes like, Nike, Reebok
and many more I Just think should get about £100-150 to spend on
clothes. more eAch yeAr”
“I didn’t want to make the first move 2 stop my mum from drinking but in
away I did cos I
love wherer I am but in a way it was a waste of time because she is
still drinking and I don’t c
her.”
“see more of my family members.”
“Nothing”
“my family.”
“To live with me mum. or my boyfriend.To move alway from this place I’m
liveing at.To
change school.To come out of care.”
“I would like my little sister to be in care.”
“Me and my sisters Bean split up. And I wish they had moved me to a
diffent foster Partents. I
went in to care for a year and a half. it ws my first time in care and I
didn’t have a good time.
Becauce the foster Mum + Dad, did not like me or my mum.They was always
calling her
names, But it would put me in the middle. But now I live with my mum and
two sisters, And I
see my brother 2 times a year.”
“not coming back into care but I have met new freinds and other type of
people.”
“to stop with my mum.”
“someone Just to be there and had a bit of time to care 4 me.”
“Stay with my Parents”
“too move back with my mother and stay safe myself. too move out of
care.”
“everything, the court Procedings, were a very nasty time for me, all I
could do was wate and
hope. It would have been better if I had more support.”
“Me moved to a Posher family/richer family so I could have a motor bike”
“dont know”
“nothing”
“the way I reacted 2 cumin into care, bcos it turned out ok.”
“Nothing.”
“HAVING A HAPPY FAMILY LIFE”
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67
“I would of Like to be with my brother at the time he got moved to a
different care home.”
“my mum And dad not to have split up”
“decisions To been made about me when I First come in To care noT 10
years afTer.”
“to stay at home wif mum + stepdad + brothers + sisters”
“I would have liked things to be different with my parents so I didn’t
have to move out.
Although l get more freedom in my placement I know it’s not like that at
every place”
“Not being gone into care.”
“To have not been so challaging to my family and maybe I would still be
at home with my
mum, step Dad, half brother and sister and the new baby arriving soon.”
“me staying with my Mum and dad”
“That when I moved into care I went directly to the carers that I am
with now.”
“that i had got on well with ex-carers and mum And also that i hadn’t
made allegations”
“not go into care”
“Sex!!”
“Nothing”
“I would like the foster carers not be their our to let me do and eat
when and what I want to
do. [ill.] for them not to be their.”
“To have a stable home”
“that I didnt go into care in the 1st Place!”
“Nothing.”
“Yes, I have grown up with lots of boys in my life which has made me
into a tomboy and I
really hate it, people call me geezerbird and Man things like and I
really get annoyed.”
“Dont know!!!!!!!!!”
“I would have loved every part of my life to be different because then
I’d be able to see and live
with my Mam.”
“nothing”
“What I did in cort.”
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“I would like to be a normal child like everybody who lives with their
Perent. And I wish
nobody would bullie me about it. (ive wrote a letter). ABout sweet wise
Award.”
“nothing.”
“to live with my mum brothers, sister and any other part of my family”
“see my mom”
“more People it sign with Please”
“I would have like to stay with Mum.”
“1. have more explaned to me about my Placement 2. meeting more pople in
Different areas
and cultures.”
“Nothing AT The moment.”
“Nothing”
“I would have like my Mum to look after me better then she did. So I
wouldn’t be in fostrcare
anymore.”
“More actitives.”
“not going into care at all things Have been and gonn and there have
been things I wish I
would have changed but I cant change the fact that I am In foster care
and my Life has
changed.”
“reaLize what my dad was doing for me.”
“Nothing”
“Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything
Everything Everything
Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything”
“I would have liked to have stopped offending and I didn’t want to Move
from my foster
placement because it was great there”
“To be in care in my own town”
“help on Suff I needed to know”
“Adults listening to our points of views instedd of decideing for us.
not have Police checks. go
back to your parents when the child and the parent knows they are ready
and probably have a
regular social worker comeing around to see how things are getting on.”
“What I would like to be different is I never meeting my mums ex
husband, cos I got battered
for 12 years.Two other things I would like to change is my brother and
sisters to be back home
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where they belong. also to of meeting mums new boy frend 12 years ago.”
“everything to do with my life/family”
“I wish that I could have stopped my mum from drinking.”
“my behaviouR”
“Not coming into care.”
“nothing”
‘to go and live with my uncle [name]”
“my mum to have left that man she is with”
“Looking back it would of started when I was put and took away from my
mum and into care,
and from the minuet I was put into care I was bullied/and my sister as
well.The family was
racist! ‘BIG MISTAKE’ Second of all seperating us from our loved and
cherished brothers.”
“Nothing”
“I would have prefared to stay with my Mum in [place].”
“everything”
“not going in care or staying with my little sister”
“Nothing, everything is very good”
“[name]”
“To stay at home”
“The system.”
“stoping at 1 Place.”
15 YEARS OLD
“For me not to be moved back with my mother and stayed [in] foster care
then I would not
have put myself in a children’s home”
“Nothing.”
“I wish that people hadn’t of made such a fuss bout nothing and put me
in care.”
“my hair”
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“The way I BEHaved”
“No being in care”
“I would have liked to see more of my family”
“1) I would like 2 of lived with my mom 2) my mom and nan 2 get on.
(that all)”
“staying with my mum”
“The offence not taking part”
“some of the carers I lived with”
“My mum to have kept in contact”
“to be more settled.”
“That I did not get moved around when I was happy where I was”
“Beeing with MUM AND DaD”
“I would like my whole life to be different, because I misbehaved to
much.”
“to have not been taken away from home and to still be with mum (I was
happy then)”
“Never did the things that I done!! listen to people opionen’s Take time
Never Rush! Different
Father”
“not Being in care.”
“I word of Liek to of had a Room of my own while in 5 months of asking
for it.”
“nothing”
“BECAUSE OF MY DISABILITY SOME PEOPLE TREAT ME DIFFERENTLY AND I
WANT THEM TO KNOW I AM JUST LIKE THEM BEING DISABLED SHOULD NOT
MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE.”
“Family would of been closer.”
“been with My Family”
“i wouLd have Liked to Live at home with Mother and Stepdad sisters and
brother and to see
my friends a Little bit more.”
“I wish I never ran away and social services wasn’t involed with my family.”
“I would have liked to stay with my mum. I think that my mum should be
given the chance to
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correct her mistakes with me before its too late!!”
“I would like to stay with my mum”
“everything”
“Everything”
“to not go in care”
“To be in [place].”
“Nothing”
“I wish I stayed with my Dad.”
“Don’t know”
“see more of my family, friend.”
“To stay at home with my family and to Be Loved like everyone.”
“Me be more confedent and to say more things (shy). People to trust
more.”
“we have a big garden.”
“If my social worker had been their for me more”
“my behaviour, and anger could have been better.”
“to Live with my Twin sister”
“NONE”
“not being born as a [name], being smarter about the way I am looked
after. no running away.”
“Nothing”
“Never to have knew The [names]”
“I woulden’t like to have moved schools and foster cares so much.”
“Nothing”
“i Sad Leaveing [names]”
“moRe contact with family + fRiends”
“pooL cLuB”
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“staying with my mum”
“No.”
“going to school”
“I wouldnt have gone into foster care with my old foster carers as i got
hurt there”
“I wouldn’t have liked to be in care. I didn’t want to keep moving house
all the time. I wanted
to stay in one home”
“Not to have changed carers so much”
“to still with my mum and dad.”
“back with family”
“Being the court. Saying I could live with my real mum”
“I would my Dad to be better”
“My mum is was on drugs but I dont no if she is off rely.”
“from my working back I would like stuff to be different like the care
must give the person
who was with them the things that he didn’t take it from his/her birth
family for example [ill.]
the must Listen to his plan and to his stuff that he want it from this Life
and to make him/her
as their birth son or daughter”
“I Think is been so different since I was in hospital and now because I
couldn’t have to go [ill.]
so when I have the oparation I feel safe and good in my life and I see
thank you for the god
make me feel well and other people in hospital so is been so changed
until now.”
“I would have liked not to be separated from my family in [place]”
“I wish my mum could have looked aftEr me”
“coming home late 10 clock at night and having boyfriend.”
“My cousin treating me differntly. then I would not have to be in care.”
“If I was to look back I would of liked to see it as me being a good
girl and not putting my self
at Risk”
“Don’t know”
“me.”
“I really wish that social services could find my Dad. I’ve never met him
although my Mum
tells me he used to take me to the nursery. I really want to know him
because he is apart of my
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Life. It’s hard knowing that I have a father, but he’s not there. I’ve
got my Mum, uncles,
Grandad and my foster carers and their family so I feel fine, I have two
families, but I still worry
and wonder about my Dad. He’s not there to call me his special girl, to
give me advice, to talk
to me and sometimes it’s really hard. I am mixed race and I want to know
more about my
background. Half of my history, culture and race is missing.”
16 YEARS OLD
“Nothing”
“NOTHING”
“I would off liked to still be at home with my parents because then
everything would be
different and would not be in care.”
“living with my mum ([name])”
“NOT TO BE MOVED ROUND. NOT TO HAVE SO MUCH LEGISLATION, BECAUSE
IT LEADS TO KIDS IN CARE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST.”
“Live with My sister. But I was not aLLowed to.”
“I would have wanted my opinion to be listened to rather than just my
carers, But the social
workers should have been listening to me instead of just the opinion of
the carer.”
“I would like the situation of relationships living together (or apart)!
to be more fair. It has
happened recently to me but even though we still live together we’re
scared to do anything
incase one of us gets moved.Thanks social services!?”
“my mum stop from drinking my brother being a bit nicer to my mum.And
seeing more off
my dad. I wish my Gran was here today with me.”
“Not going in to care at the first place.”
“being at home with my Parents instead of being in care”
“I would like my mum to chocies so I can go back and live with them when
I am 18 years
old”
“To have my mum live nearer to me and get to stay with her for the
weekend.”
“Nothing I am happy where I am.There is only one thing I think children
in foster care should
be allowed to stay out at friends houses if it’s OK with carers.”
“To have had a normal family life! But I wouldn’t be were I am now if I
wasn’t in care.”
“To see my sister more and to have a horse”
“I would have prefered to have been told what was happening to me, and
what had happened
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whilst my case was at court.”
“I sould have been more diffrerd I sould have changed my Behaver becouse
I used to hiT my
mum for nothing but I haved changed my behaver I am nerley 17 And cant
wait till get out off
care”
“The way no one seems to have time ‘Can I ring you back theres a crisis’
‘Let me Just finish
these Reports’”
“I wouldn’t have started taking heroin - thats the worse thing to have
affected my life.”
“nothin”
“ME TO BE MORE OPEN MINDED AND TRY TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR MYSELF.
IM LESS VULNERABLE THEN I WAS 2 YRS AGO”
“Nothing really.”
“I would of wanted my two sisters to come and live with their family.”
“The part of social services having your friends and family police
checked I would have liked
them 2 not get to involved”
“nothing”
“Not gone into care”
“LOTS OF THINGS:TOO MANY TO WRITE DOWN.”
“When I was at home life was very hard for me I was all alone and my
family hated me. I had a
social worker but you would not think so, she never met up with me, it
was always my parents,
she never believed anything what I did and let her and I got called a
spolit brat by her.When
my sister tried to kill me, I told her and she said there was nothing
she could do because it was
or ready happened.When your in a place where you were not aloud to eat
use the electricity
been named”it” or”thing” been physically and amotionly abused. It is not
what you need. I
thought it ws dicrasfull, and people want you to trust social service,
How can you when got
treated like dirt by someone who is met to look out for you.Whe I ran
away I phoned up EDT
to get some support and advice from them and all I got was anougher
night will not do you
any harm, when before I said my Dad was beating me and said he was going
to kill me!”
“Although I was very young when I went in care and to young to make any
decissions in court
or to give evidence of my past. I thought it would be better if people
would ask us years later
to give evidence or make our Decissions.”
“I’d love to see my brother + have him living with me.”
“I would have liked to have lived with my Mum or happy foster Carrers. I
also wish I had not
been raped or abused.”
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“won’t of like my mum and stepdad together”
“I would have liked to have been in the courtroom but I wasn’t allowed.”
“well I would of beford to stay nere [place] as all my friend or Down
there”
“I don’t really want anything to be different in the past because I was
happy where I was”
“coming home soona”
“Nothing”
“making friends. having more freedom. to go out on my own. stop the
bulling in the care
homes and [ill.] when I was small.”
“I don’t really know!”
“I would of more of my father.”
“Stayed at my foster Parents in [place]”
“I think being in care is Brillant & I wouldn’t change anything”
“I would have liked To see my mum more than Just once a month.”
“The way my family had taken it. (what I had done) which was being bad
by running off. But I
don’t see any of my brother and sisters. But sent them Christmas pressys
But didn’t get no
phone call off them to say thank you or nothing. But I would of liked to
of been able to see my
brothers and sisters. And to still be able to have contact.”
“to have been able to fly over to [place] and see my mother and othe
family”
“I think every thing is OK”
“Yes, more co-operative. (Telling people what I wanted)”
“Nothing, although from the age 12, I was relluctant to what S.S. wanted
for my near future, I
thought somethings they done were to harsh like put one on a secure
order for a Long period,
and not trusting me on my own in society, and being unable to stay at
friends over night, Lack
of trust resulted in me running away from numerous care homes and
putting my self in Severe
Danger around drugs + prostitution. History repeated itself for 3 1/2
years, Id be in and out of
Secure going back to my past [ill.] I am 16 now and Semi-independent.
And I am So So
greatful for Social Servises Support and Looking back they only wanted
what was best for me
and what would keep me safe. If it wasn’t for their correct Judgement,
Id be dead, ive been on
harsh drugs and been through a lot of pooh! but im now writing a novel
of my traumatic
history.”
“yes Live with my brother or see more friends.”
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“NoThing”
“I Don’t know about that one But If the Law was to say you can do what
ever you want to do
you can Leave care when ever you feel like it. Because surely right
no-one wants to stay in care
4-eva. cause everyone has got their owN Lives to sort out Before then
you know what I mean!
I feel sorry for those people who are Being treated different Like
aBusing them and all sorts of
tings”
“Yes and NO”
“I would like to be at home”
“To have been given anotheR chance from social services But I neveR GOT
that.”
“Nothing: Everything has worked out well for me.”
“less argument with my mum and listning to her.”
“Some moNey”
“Yes if I was in a nother foster carer”
17 YEARS OLD
“people to make me real safe and to help me”
“Nothing”
“less Moving aRound More helP in Promblem’s”
“NOTHING”
“I dont look back I look forward”
“not leaving care and listened to the advice i was Being told. Rather
Run away with B. Friend
which turned violent!”
“Nothing”
“My Dad becous he all ways argurs with me and my mum and my sisters he
mad my family
very very upset. becouse of that I dont talk or see him at all.”
“I would have liked my behaviour to have been different and my attitude
to life
“people in loving me in making Dession”
“Having a younger social worker to talk to and to be able to talk to my
social worker without
my foster parents there! Social workers usually ask if it’s alright for
the foster parent to stay
while you talk and when your with them you can’t really say you would
mind because then
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you might hurt there feelings mostly when there like your parents!”
“nothing”
“I would have probably Like more support from the odd social worker and
have more contact
with family members e.g mum.”
“Being with my mum and Dad and sisters Brothers”
“I wished I knew I was gonna end up in care again cos then I wouldnt
have had to be adopted
and would be able to meet my birth parents now and not to have have to
wait till next year.
And I wished that they had put me where I am now fist cos then I
wouldn’t have had loadza
placements.”
“MORE FINACIAL SUPPORT. SOCIAL WORKERS TO DO THEIR JOB PROPERLY!”
“I would have liked being together with my family and not being in
care.”
“nothing”
“the fact that me and my mum have a gr8 relationship that I wish we had
back then.”
“Living with a Family and not by myself because I think it to young to
cope with thing.”
“Not being there in the first place I seem to have gone worse in care
than what I was. I don’t
trust them I far as I could throw them.”
“nothing, I have A good life And it coulnt be better in Any wAy.”
“I would of liked Social Services to listen more to my needs and listen
to what I was saying but
they didn’t And they didn’t believe me till it went to the Police Social
Services done nothing
good to help me.”
“My whole life”
“I wish I’d stayed at home and not said anything about what was
happening to me.”
“ I would like to have gone to live with my mum instead of Going into
Care (every family has
there Problems)”
“I would of liked everything to be changed but there was no point in me
saying anything as
nothing was up to me.”
My dad not Locking me in a room and seting fire to the house.”
“nothing.”
“See my friends more (school friends) would have liked to see my family
more as well. and I
wish I had gone to school”
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“there is no leisure support for people under care we are not paid for
Gym and other sports.”
“I wish i never started smoking crack cocaine because it left me in
prison I wish i never got put
in care.”
“The money they Don’t give your carear more money to give to the
children who are 15 and
over”
“not coming into care”
“I wish I was NoT in care I wish I was at home with my GranmoTher”
“Not playing around to get sent into care. for my social worker not to
have put me in
independance so early (15)”
“no I feel that being in care has made me the person I am. Happy and
Grateful to have a life. I
am much wiser. I don’t let people walk over me. And I know life is tough
and things don’t
always go you way. I loved and hated care But now I live in a share
accomadation.”
18 YEARS OLD
“stayed at home.”
“to see my family more often But it’s hard for me becoz my Dad and his
girlfriend and my
Brother live some where else than me and my other Two Brothers live some
where else as well”
“Beeing at Home with my mum and the Rest of my familey Beaing at Home
with my mum
all to Gether with my mum”
19 YEARS OLD
“Things were fine in my foster placement but found it differcult seeing
other children coming
in and out of my care placement”
“Yes behave better to people and not be a Proper bastard in the future”
20 YEARS OLD
“Nothing.”
AGE NOT SPECIFIED
“for dad to be around mom to visit more often”
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QUESTION 11: “Looking forward, how would you like
things to be different?”
6 YEARS OLD
“Very far. Everything?”
8 YEARS OLD
“I don’t want to be adopted”
“I am happy at the moment. I’ll thine About it the Time”
“Living with my mum and dad”
“Don’t know”
9 YEARS OLD
“I like to see more of my family.”
“not being in care and seeing my mum agian.”
“See Mum and dad More”
“to my goinog bak Foster mum [name]”
10 YEARS OLD
“everything to be decorated and doors on, and I had a bed on.”
“Not to go back to my mother but to see [names]. And to stay in care.”
“at the moment I am at a specil school and I would like to get back to a
normal school soon”
“go home”
“to have contact 3 times a week and both brothers to contact nothing
eles”
“more money to speend to see my frinds more”
“Love to Live with dad and family.”
“Going out for meal and going to [place] and relaxing in the beech. and
I feel realy happy it
was brilliant. [name]”
“same as number 10”
“To be with with parents again.”
“I like things How they are”
“nothing”
“I do not want anything to be different only to have more girls ‘cos I
live with 4 boys I am the
only girl where I live at the moment.”
“Having different parents might of help!”
“[name and address]”
“Have my own bedroom”
“Yes not to be taken away from my mum in the first place. I was looked
after well and I did not
get told whant was going to happen to me and I went straight in to care
I didnt know no did
my mum or dad!!!!!! Thank you I am home safe with my mum”
“for twin to come back as I ame missing her”
“I wouLd like to go back Home with [name] my Dads partner and my dad,
and I would like
[name] to sort out her drinking problem and dad to sort out His problem
and to not sHout or
argue any more.”
“I wode Like to go home”
“my mum keeps on seeing me + my brother [name]”
“Doug not being there And me starting to become a singer like
Anastasher”
“I would like to be out of care before I am 11 years old If I am not I
shall not be very pleased
because I only get to see my mum 3 days a week and I am only allowed to
see my dad every
fortnight Friday and at the moment I have not seen For 6 Fridays and
knowing that my dad has
cancer and I worry a lot about my dad I always think that he is going to
die.”
“Nothing”
“In the future I wud licke to go and look after miye mum wen I am 16
years.”
“to see my mummy more often + my daddy”
“So things be different in the future We can never be Seeing our other
parts of family again”
“seeing my brother + sister + Father”
“I Look forward for us to live happily to gether for ever.”
“More trips and I want to choose my supper. More game for Playstation
2.”
“I would to finish my sats and get a good Result and leave secondnery
school when I am 16
and get a good passes in my GSE’s so I can get a better life.”
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“Nothing”
“I would like to work hard in school and get a good Job and looked after
my children right.”
11 YEARS OLD
“Stay with my family more.”
“Never to see my mum and dad again.To see my brother and Grandma
again.To gain long
term foster care.”
“I will Be more Safe And ThaTS All folks”
“comeing out of f.care and returning home.”
“nothing”
“well there is one thing get more of my brothers to sleep to have fun
and meet again”
“nothing, except to be a Rock n Roll star”
“growing up and being happy around other’s”
“Nothing needs to be different”
“I don’t now”
“I would like to get a nice and good job and have a family again.”
“To Live with MY Mum”
“go to [place] then my mams. Live in a big house with my family”
“To go back and live with my mum but I don’t Really know any more.”
“always to be with my foster mum.”
“I would like my mother to leave me alone and let me get on with my life
and stop causing
trouble in the family and that applies to my sister.”
“for my mom once again for another time being as she has moved 200 miles
away.”
“I can’t answer”
“To live with my mom and bother and [name].”
“More fun. By [name]”
“no”
“To be in care with my family”
“Dont know”
“me to be at my mums house”
“Nothing Nothing”
“I’d Like to see more of my half sister, [name] and brother, [name].
also I’d like social services to
leave me alone for a bit as I don’t See a Point in all those reviews ect
as I’m happy and settled. I
also think that children should have more say in how to make things
better with social services
as they are the victims and social services Prioritys.”
“I would like to stay with [names] for as long as possible”
“Don’t know”
“Don’t know”
“family improvement”
“HAPPY AS I AM.”
“To stay with the same family until I am 23”
“To get a Job.To go to college and univercity get marry and have
children”
“me at my mum’s home”
“To Sleep at my mum because i want To and she and my DaD want me To”
“Seeing my family in the week not just at the week ends. I miss them
lots. Sorry about my
writing I got upset and angry with it.Why were you asking me and I
brothers these qestions.”
“Do not no”
“Yes, I would love to see my mum and brothers and sister.”
“I would like to go and live with my dad”
“go back to mum.”
“I would like a new house in [place]. I would like Things to go back to
the way it was so we
could all be together.”
“Just Normal”
“to be going out with my mum if we were still in care. Being back with
my mum if not in
care”
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“I want to come out of care when I’m 12.”
12 YEARS OLD
“BEINg Together as a family again”
“I liked to see more of my family + friends!!”
“nothing”
“Living back with my brother [name] in care in the same home.”
“I [ill.] like to live with [names] and I wnat to see my sister”
“Im not sure what to write thankyou for sending the Booklet”
“Nothing.”
“dont know”
“to have more confidence in myself. to do well in school and getting a
nice job. to go out and
have a nice family and home. to be able to live without thinking being
abused again. to be able
to control my temper and aggression.”
“my behaviour”
“I would like my brothers and sister to come and live with me at my nans
and they asked for
this. I would like to see family members more often e.g. everyone. I
would like social servesis to
get out of my life”
“For every one to Be Firend’s”
“Go and live back with mum and brothers. No arguements. respect others”
“Get a good education. Get a good job. Get a good amount of money.”
“To live with mum and my sisters.”
“by havving my own bed Room and not sharing and allso stop arguing.”
“never to Be born OR Had different parents I hate my real parants and I
Always will!”
“Be with my mum but with brothers and sisters at Home. From [name]”
“lIve with Faimly. No bad Nasty stuf ect”
“I would Like to be in the army”
“I want to geT my educaTion Then leave school And go TO college And GeT
my own fLaT
TheN I caN geT DRUNK all I like.”
“happy Fu”
“Living Back AT home with my mum To have contact 3 times a week”
“I can’t think of anything.”
“Stay at Grandma and see Dad + my uncle Terry and My uncle [name]”
“by me still to be living with my nan and grandad and to have seen my
dad.”
“I would like to be out of care”
“To see my family more to live with my family or to live in A foster
family my DAD to be
alive to get out of my children’s home”
“TO GET OUT OF CARE QUICKER.”
“I can’t wait till I am 18 because then I can just have a normal life
then and not haveing to deel
with social workers. In the future I want to be a hairdresser so I hope
I get it.”
“go Back home.”
“go live with my Dad!”
“seeing my family more. and nan. and cousions”
“I would like socil workers to be a bit more alert and to here what
foster cares have to say and
when the put a time down to come and see you the must try to make the
effert and come.”
“Nothing”
“I don’t no”
“a motor cross bike”
“To see my father”
“I don’t really know Somethink different I hope.”
“well I don’t want to get in fights with my brother all the time and I
don’t want to get in big
arguements with my mum all the time!”
“To see More of family and friends”
“no”
“to Live with my mum!”
NSPCC Your Shout!
84
Your Shout! NSPCC
85
“fuck all fuck all”
“nothing at all because im happy the way I am.”
“I would like to see my mum more often. I would like to see her much
longer in time because
it used to be 8.00 till 9:30pm but now it’s 9:30am-5:30pm. I would also
like my foster parents to
let me go places like [places] on my own with my mates because I am 12
and I can look after
myself. I would also like to change the way they Buy stuff for me.They
ask me what I want for
eg: Easter/birthdays. Its usually tracksuits - I say can I have a pair
of Nike trainers but she says
“Oh you’d suit addidas trainers. Or if I say I don’t want a pair of
shoes that I don’t like she says.
‘You only don’t want these cause they haven’t got a name on them. It
really gets on my nerves
Thank you.”
“HAVE MORE Time WITH MUM. HAVE MORE PlACES to go to in the six WEEKS
holidays.”
“seeing family more often.”
“Be Rich”
“I would like to see my mum on weekends + sleep over + also on summer
hols I would like to
see my brother without a social worker thats it I gess”
“I would like to have more contact with family and friends from my old
school and house. I
would like to have more say in matters concerning me.”
“Continuing to have dry beds. contact continuing with my mum. more
contact with my
brothers and sisters.To do well at school and improve my bad tempers and
not let anybody wind
me up as much as in the past.”
“I would like to live with my family”
“Nothing.”
“Me + Brothers going home. Behaviour of me and Brothers Better”
“To see more of my freands”
“dont know.Thank you”
“nothing because every thing is Right.”
“LIFE”
“I would like to be allowed to sleep at my mums for how long I will be
allowed and see how it
goes. I would like to see more of my family if I could. I would like to
go somewhere like
blackpool with my family (brothers and sisters, mum).”
“I’m happy with my life at the moment.”
“To see more of my other family and go out with my friends more often.
And when I am a bit
older to see my parents more often by travelling down to their house by
myself ”
“No be cause I am Happy”
“Be able to go home with my mum.And to be able to afford school uniform.
But couldn’t cose
social services where taking to long to sort money out. For social
services let you see family
more.”
“I Like to go home”
“mum to change”
“I need to change so I have more friends I need them stayed and play and
I need to stop
drinking to much. due from home sorry for the delay of this form by
[name and date].”
“I would like it very much”
“MY SCHOOL PLACEMENT - MY SCHOOL PLACEMENTS IZ UNDER THREET.
DIDNT RECEIVE THIS UNTILL THE THIRD OFF OCTOBER 2002”
“I will like to start having contact with my dad. also I will like to go
to school where I can get
on with the important bit of your life.”
“Going to sleepovers, seeing my mum, finding out more about my family.
Basicly doing what
any other kid does.”
“To Be abel to see my mum more and Do more things at school without
haveing to phone
people up. and to get on with my life without people caling me names.”
“I would like to see my mum more often. I think that are friends mums
shouldn’t have to have
police checks before we go and stay at there house. I don’t see why it
should be different
because you don’t live with your mum and dad.”
“I would like every foster child to see their family more often
ESPECIALY ME!! I think the
Question about the court should have been shorter I fell asleep reading
that. Have a nice time
reading. Sorry it’s so late but I only got it on the 23rd of October.
Bye”
“Nothing”
“I would like to go home to family and see friends a lot because I have
loads but I would like
for me to go and hang out.”
“Nothing.”
“my nan not until i am older. see my sister more.”
“to go back home with my mum and famile. by [name]”
NSPCC Your Shout!
86
Your Shout! NSPCC
87
“I want or I would like To see my father for once and see what he looks
like.”
“have a phone, go out with my Friends and have Friends I mean more I
only got about 8 or 20
Friends But my Friends got 50. and I want A phone Badly Even my 9 and 8
year old got a
phone and I keep lying to them”
“I would like to live with the same foster carers that im with know then
move on from then”
“I would like to take Lambeth to court! [name and address]”
13 YEARS OLD
“I WANT TO BE LISTENED TO”
“I am very happy and my auntie and uncle are helping me with my school
work so I am hoping
to have good results.”
“Nothin. everything is perfect the way it is. My foster carer is
fantastic and shes there for me if I
need her.”
“More fun”
“like to move to a care home nr my mums and then home”
“To be back with my Faimaily”
“I wish I would be alowed to come home.”
“I’d like to be able to communicate with my foster mum more and I want
her to understand
that I can’t always be what she wants me to be. I can’t help being moody
and lock myself away
in my bedroom. I’m mixed up with my past and my hormones are beginning
to kick in pretty
hard.”
“Living with my Nanny and [name] (Granny and Granda) to I am older like
19 or 20, then live
with Dad maybe.”
“To see my family more. I want to see my mum, Dad, [names].”
“Eventaly get to see my Real Family”
“to grow up and be happy around other”
“I never want to go into care again.”
“to be home”
“have a flat”
“To move in with my dad.”
“do not know”
“get a good Job. Pass GCSE. Live with my FamiLy. come up to [place] to
see my foster mum To
be a footbaler or a singer.”
“If I have a much better relationship with my mums side of the family
cause I No every one in
my dads side”
“I would like to see my family a llot more than I do”
“I would like it to be so me and mum get on better I can steel continue
seeing my dad and
some otherz I got to know in care”
“me staying with my nan”
“That they would come and live with me and my mum”
“noting”
“My mother to get in touch and stop lieing about stuff!”
“Go home!”
“staying at home with mum!!!!!!!OK! Its not fair!”
“I wouldn’t want anything to be different it’s fine as it is.”
“Just the way they are because Ive now moved in with my aunt and I’m
happy again”
“I would Like to see my brothers because I haven’t seen them for a long
time but I’m seeing
them in a couple of weeks. I would Like to see my relatives.”
“[Name and address]”
“Nothing”
“see my Mum alot more than once a month”
“I would like my care plan to change in the futer for example. I would
like to see my uncle and
Aunties more.”
“nothing except not to be moved coz i love it where i am now and am very
settled and i never
play up no more i am really good at school and hope 2 get good grades on
my G.C.S.ES then
when i leave school i wanna go to colage and get a part time Job at
Macdonalds at the same time
then when i am 18 i am going into the army i go to army cadets at the
minuete and love it.”
“Nothing”
“to help others in many whys to look after others I be kind.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
88
Your Shout! NSPCC
89
“I wouldnt like 2 be in care all my life I would like to go and live
with my Mum, at least I
know I wouldn’t be in any harm, plus all my friends are there, the only
thing is I wouldn’t want
to start a new school, because I have just setteled back in to my school
after leaving then coming
back. So if i was to go and live with my mum I would have to get the
train to school everyday
but because my mum is disabled she may not be able to afford it, so
thats the only Problem.”
“no no”
“not goin Back 2 me DAD (noway).”
“I wouldn’t want anything to be different because there fine as they
are.”
“I would love to be able to live with my mum and be given the chance to
do things what a
happy and normal family would do. I want to feel really good about
myself and feel free to do
things which a real family would do and feel as if I can do whatever
other families do when I
lived with my mum before. I want to see my Dad whenever I want. I want
to see my Dad as
often as possible and do what sons, Daughters, mums and Dads would
normally do. I want to
have my family and my life before back and do happy family stuff. My Mum
is well and can
cope and my behaviour is really good and I wouldn’t ever hurt my mum
again as I did before. I
want it.”
“to live a noRmal life”
“I don’t wnat anything else different because I am happy as I am”
“Don’t know”
“me being with my father.”
“Nouthing”
“I would like to see my mom more than twice a year.”
“Be at home with my Mom and Dad”
“I would like to go back to my dads.”
“Don’t be acting cool and be happier.”
“Nout Nout”
“gREAt + verry verry Happy”
“nothing everythings fine”
“Get a good job. P.S. I apologise for my poor handwriting, but have just
had stitches in my
finger!”
“Me having no Flash back’s and moveing just to Foster homes and no
children homes. I hope
this will happen soon”
“My mom to belive me”
“have a nice house! Lots of money! Good job! nice man”
“Dont send Who cares to me again”
“2 c my sister and dad more.”
“The socal shold let me see who I WANT. And I need a clothes pocket
money once evey 3
mounts about 30-60. My clothes cost a lot because I have to get them
from shops which have
my size 20-18.”
“I have no clue.”
“I am very dissapointed and also very unhappy about the school that I am
in.”
“I wouldn’t because Im happy as I am & hAppy with the day to day
agreements”
“go to Foster care and the Foster care to be SaFe.”
“Just to be kept safe.”
“I would like to see my family more but it is being sorted out by the
staff where I live”
“more nicer than they have been.”
“To be living with my Mum”
“being with foster home.”
“ending care plan”
“Yes to go and see my mum every 2 weeks”
14 YEARS OLD
“I would like to be happy and go back and live with my mum and brothers”
“STAY IN CARE”
“I WANT TO TRY TO PUT THE PAST BEHIND ME, GROW UP GET A GOOD JOB
AND LOOK AFTER MY NAN. I HOPE THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO FORGET ALL OF
THE HORRIBLE TIMES BUT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO THIS”
“To live in the area I was born in where all my natural family is Have a
planned admission
when moving to a different home.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
90
Your Shout! NSPCC
91
“I would not like to chang a thing.”
“Don’t know”
“I wish that I could live in care all my life and get some hep”
“I would want to pass all my exams and get a job in teaching and retire
when I am 40 and
become a foster carer because I like to work with children, I would like
to look after other
children how my carer has looked after me for the last 2 1/2 Years. I
would also like to see my
mum get a nice job. and get a nice house.”
“More holidays in LAS Vegas”
“To live with my mum, to be treated the same as other people not
differentley because I am in
care.”
“I would like my life to get back on track because its a bit messy at
the moment I want to get
my head down and get back in to school so I can do my G.C.S.CS I want to
work with
children when I leave school but I need G.C.S.CS for that I would also
like to trie and build a
relationship with my mum and I would like to start to see my younger
brother again because I
haven’t seen him for about 8-9 months. my life in care isn’t brilliant
at the moment but I’m
starting to realize I’m growing up and my childhood is slipping sway and
I want to make
anything of myself I would like the confidence of a good childhood
behind me! Thank you!
xxxx”
“Yes!”
“I Just want to be somewhere I’m happy so I can make a Fresh start”
“for my foster parents to hurry up so I can get on wid my life. I also
want to loose my criminal
record so I can become a Police Officer. My name is [...]”
“I would like help For my behaviour”
“to hopefully be living with my mum again and with all my brothers and
sister [name] thats all I
would like”
“mum to be kind and nicer to me”
“I would like it to be total diffrent to be Bak at home were i belong
with my mum and
familey”
“See more of famliy”
“I would like more contact with my father and see him more and he ring
me up more”
“I don’t no.”
“Nothing really I just hope I get the future I want. Job: Nurse. good
money, nice house,
husband. + my family to stick with me in everything I do.”
“get a job and have lots of Money”
“To lead my own life noone set me up with people, noone to tell me what
to say at the
Reviews,meetings, I would like myself to move on up to stop being stuck
in the past stop all
this guilt because everyone makes mistakes even though I made one that
distroyed by family I
no they are all fine my mums remarried and I am super happy as I am now
an aunty for the
first time. But with the care I am in I can’t change nothink I am so
happy with them I think
the world of them and I hope they feel the same noone can change them
they’re perfect, I
wouldn’t change them for the world.”
“FLAT IF MY OWN.A JOB - POLICE MAN.”
“To be settled and see more of my sildings”
“to meet a nice boy. new friends. to meet someone like my foster carer
[she is so nice]”
“don’t know”
“Contact with my mum. move in with my boyfriend. more contact with
friends + family.”
“I think sisters and Brothers should not be split up and you could see
your mum and dad as
much as you could. And when you tell people your not happy in your
placement to move you.
And to find out want is the matter is. And to go to Court and heard it
for your self in stead of
not beening told for a weeks.”
“to stay were I am I dont wont it to be any different.”
“I don’t really know but I Just want someone to be there for me to trust
me and love me and
just have a laugh and a joke. I think you should see what the foster
placement is like before you
send a kid there see what kind of place it really like and see what the
people are like and trust
me Ive been sent evry where [places]. See what decishion the child wants
to make before you
jump to things think about what the child wants it could come out good
in the longrun.”
“go out on my own more”
“Don’t know. Don’t mind.”
“I would like myself to have a future without any memory of my
childhood.Whenever I think
about it I feel low and deppressed, if only I was born into a family
were life was good, where I
had a good normal life, is that too much to ask, I haven’t had a chance
to have a good
childhood, but im going to make a chance to have a good future.”
“Happy as I am.”
“nothing need to be different.”
“my life, 2 wot I had in the past.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
92
Your Shout! NSPCC
93
“Nothing.”
“I AM VERY HAPPY NOW”
“I would like to stay in the home that I am living in now.”
“to live with my familey.”
“al I wnaT is sTAy wiTH my FORsTer mum [name]”
“go home as soon as possible”
“I would like to think that one day I could move home to my Parents. I
do enjoy being in care
but there are a lot of things I miss about being at home too. I hate
being so isolated and feeling
on my own, I would like to walk out the house knowing that Im not going
to be coming home
to a room full of smoke or a wardrobe with no clothes in it. I would
like it if I was given the
correct money to live on and that places were easier to get to too. (I have
to go everywhere on
my bike). I’d like it if my social worker pulled his head out his arse
and got a watch so he could
arrive on time to see me. I would like to get on better with my carer
and be able to talk to her
more and not feel as if im treading on egg shells all the time.”
“To live with my mum and step brother and sister and my other family.”
“I might learn to be less challenging less uncoperative more willing to
improve the way I am in
myself and to others. learn to have more confidence etc.Try and find a
placement when I leave
secure, that I can take advantage of in a positive way.”
“by being in Foster care or leaving foster care”
“I would like to leave school have a good career being a chef, and maybe
get a family also to get
a nice house and care and still see my family.”
“Nothing. PS If I hadn’t of come into care I know I would not of gotten
as far as i am now.”
“I do not no sory”
“I don’t know”
“well because my carers are nasty I would like them to change thait
langwawg to me because
well I can’t relly say becus it makes me cry. I sorry bat by”
“Yes”
“Be happy”
“social services leaving me alone”
“I would not”
“I would like everyone in the world get on with each other, not having
wars all the time. So
many people are getting killed because of it.”
“Don’t know!!!!!!!!”
“The same reason as question 10”
“for me to lead a great life for god and help others. I really want to
go with Jake 2geva 4eva.”
“nothing”
“I would like it to be me and my family or me in a childrens home near
my family or me
living with my mum.”
“No know.”
“I would like to try to Move back to [place] as I have lived in [place]
for seven Months and
haven’t seeN Much of my family and I know I could work with Social
Services to get back on
track with school and visits with my mum and sisters. Also S.S. have
Moved me to far away
from home and they shouldn’t do that to kids. My name is [...] My
address is [...]”
“I ward like to be like and loved by famarly and not to be bolled at
school.”
“I would like to things to be changed? 1. know more about carer who you
with. 2. treat us like
a ordinary kid e.g staying at friends houses 3. not Blocking children
out of confersations about
them.”
“meet somebody and by happy”
“A Job”
“Do more/some after school things/activities.”
“I would Like to manage living in a flat get good grades in my gcse’s
And get a good Job.”
“Stay with my home For eveR They Love me And I Love them Thank you”
“I would like carry on with school get good grades and go on to be an
accountant.”
“To be good at school.”
“I would like to have more contact to the people I care about. I would
like to stay were I am.”
“Pretty much the same as question 10.”
“Im looking forward to My brother and sisters coming back home and my
mums boy friend
being my step dad.”
“I would like to see my best friend more often and other things.”
NSPCC Your Shout!
94
Your Shout! NSPCC
95
“move out of care”
“remain how I am”
“To live with my uncle, when I leave care.”
“To be allowed to live with my nan.”
“Nothing”
“Well I can Personally say that over all 7 years not much can get worse,
so im going to forget
everything move on and make a life of my own (MINE) and not under
rules!! I want to work
with the care become a strong person and help those that are in care and
do right where ive
seen social workers fail! I know what it is like and i can help them in
a BiG way.Then i want to
write true life stories and probably foster child and make their life a
happier one and make them
feel loved and cared like their meant to be!!!”
“well at the moment there’s nothing I would like to be different.Well
there is something okay I
need to say one thing that I have got a good voice and I really want to
become a singer and I
have made up a song and it’s really good its called = Girl I just want
to tell you. If you people
can do something then try to help me out with something, I have made my
lyrics but where am
I going to get the music. Please write back at [address].This is my
adress so please write back
please”
“I would like to get my mother back to England and go to school and
become a pilot. My
name is [name and address]”
“I dont know”
“Not haveing the social services on my family’s back’s. life geting
better”
“I would Like to go home with my mum and dad.”
“I whant to go to school and go out more and i’d like to get more money
for clothes”
“I cant think about Anything.”
15 YEARS OLD
“Care order droped. get my own place. haveing a better live”
“to go home more.”
“I would like my little bro to come home ‘cos I can’t stand the thought
of him going through
every single day - It was a stupid decision to let me come home and not
my brother ‘cos now
he feels like he’s done something wrong and we don’t want him to come
back. but we do
desperately once Joe’s home the social worker can come and visit us if
they really have to, but
my family would like to get our stuff together and move to [place] where
we can hopefully start
again + put all this mess behind us.”
“I would like to be an actress that will be different”
“Get a Job and get Better help and advice”
“everything is O.K. for me.”
“Nothing really”
“I Don’t know. I would like to live with dad.”
“staying with my mum and dad when am 16 or going to Ireland”
“Nobody knowing about the offence”
“I am moving out in 3 months and social services are getting me a flat
so I hope it goes well”
“to settle down.”
“Live at home”
“Better!”
“I would like things to be different in: living closer to my brothers,
sister, stepdad + my
grandparents (mums side).”
“I would like to be with all my family again because I miss them so
much. I miss coming home
from school and sitting around the table with my family and going on
outings and parks ect. I
have a 7 yr old sis to and she is very upset if I could make another wish
it would be to make
her happy like before”
“Never do the things that I done again.To be able to see My Mother,
brother, sister. and Other
Familys.”
“TO Go Back home with my FAMily or go to my own FLAT. and i would Like
to go to
college to IMProve my EDucation”
“I word liek to see more of my family members which i do not see. I word
liek To Have more
chance to see People which I don’t see that often.”
“nothing”
“I WANT TO BE HOME WITH My FAMILY”
“I’d Like to Live with a family instead of in a R’n’R centre, because
it’s horrible.You don’t live
like an ordinary family. I wish I could make things right between my
family.”
“I have seen my DAD thank you”
“Just me and my baby and my family all reunited and I would like to be
put into a mother and
NSPCC Your Shout!
96
Your Shout! NSPCC
97
baby unit (open) to find my real dad as well. My name and address is
[...] I will look forward to
hearing from you again.”
“I would like my mum to have me home before im 16!!! I would like a job
with money so I
can get new clothes and stuff that I like. from [name] Please help!”
“nothing”
“I would want me to get what I want in life!”
“Have nothing to do with social services.”
“To be in [place]”
“More help from social worker.”
“I would like my sister to Get Better and I would like to see my DaD
again”
“Get more money than £4.85”
“for social workers to get out of my life I was fine in the start thay
have fucked my life up
totally and I hate them all they Just do it for the money.Write back
from [name]”
“To stop doing things that get me into trouble with the police.”
“People to see that I can coup on my own with a baby.”
“have some new children have a lapTop in the house.Thank you”
“I would like to see more of my friends and family”
“Be good.”
“to be came”
“being able to live with my family”
“To speed more time with my dad and Live with my twin sister [name].”
“NONE, because I am happy, because I got a home + a Job.”
“just to have a nice life”
“Just to stay out at a friends house.”
“Get on with my mum more. Be able to see my friends”
“going home moRe”
“No way”
“to see [names] more. due to the move from the home sorry For the delay
with this form.”
“having moRe contact with fRiends + famiLy”
“mum”
“seeing my mum more often. seeing my brothers and sisters more often.”
“To be out of care when 16 not 18 and looking after myself. I didn’t get
this till the 19th
October sorry!”
“Id Like to go home to Live with my prober parents.”
“I want my mum to be sobre 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 Days a
Year until the day she
dies. Now that I have told you everything You now know what my life was
living with my
mum but “WHO CARES” I don’t, my mum is on the way to a good
recovery.Thank you for
wasting my time!!!!!!”
“To have my own Room and some privacy. to see less of my social worker
(coz I don’t like
Him) and to see more of my family. I would like to see my couzins more.
+ if I can 2 change
social workers. But that is not as important as c-ing my family. Luv ya
all”
“I would like to work like to Be a BrickLayer or with animals or car’s.”
“I would like Dads girl friend to move out. because me and her do not
get on what so ever.
The reason is because she dose my nut-case in as she has turned my
brother agest me neally my
Dad as well. well that what it felt a few week ago.”
“Just happily moving into independent living from Residential care.”
“I not now”
“I would like the rules of the foster care to be different than the
rules that they are given it
now and I would like the social workers would be so friendly and helpful
for the children that
they are Faking them and about the money that they must give it to us
like they must put a
little bit of money for us because I saw a lot of children like me need
some more money for
their pocket money”
“I would like thing to be beater when I have my own education and i can
do my own job so
that could be different and I would like to look forword to my education
and I will happy if I
could get my education going good and beater and when I am older enough
I can do my own
job and look after myself. and I am very thankfull for the people help
me because when I was
ill in hospital so I couldnt eat sleep but now I feel safe and I am very
happy for the people
helped me and I would like to give them thankfull.That is the big
changed from back to the
front and the big differentes when I was hospital until now.”
“I dont know”
NSPCC Your Shout!
98
Your Shout! NSPCC
99
“I would likE to see my mum more”
“Looking forward I would like to see things different by Behaving myself
and stop hanging
around with bad companies and not putting my self at Risk. I’ll also
stop smoking and drinking
because I’m only young and it’s not nice seeing a young girl smoking and
drinking and also self
harming.”
“Give me more money.”
“I would really Like to be a T.V. journaliste on ITN. I would love to be
rich and donate
£2,000,000 to social services to help other children in care. I think
that it is important for every
young person to get what they deserve. I would love to get in contact
with my Dad and find out
about my history and my Mum.There are a lot of secrets in my family and
no one is willing to
share them with me. I want to know why my Mum is manic-depressive, I
want to know why Nan
and Grandad split up. I want to know why none of my uncles apart from
two came to see me
when I was younger. I want to prove to everyone who had stereotypical
views about me to be put
to shame and shown that foster children can get really far if they just
believe in themselves. I want
to live a wonderful life where all my dreams come true. I’m sick of the
constant nightmares in my
life and it’s about time that I woke up smiling instead of crying”
16 YEARS OLD
“NOTHING”
“I would like my own flat and I would like to prove to everyone that I
can live by myself.”
“NoThing”
“IF YOU HAVE NO CONTACT WITH PARENTS, I DON’T THINK THAT THEY
SHOULD STILL BE ABLE TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DO IN
CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. But......THE PLACE I’M IN NOW IS BRILLIANT”
“for My Baby to have a happy Life with me and my Boyfriend.”
“Having more of a choice of where to move indepently. It’s either
supported lodgings or houses,
so why can’t we look in ALL areas so that wayne can be more sure of what
we want.”
“Getting a good Job. Seeing my friend from Collage. Staying with my
foster family.Thank you
for your time. See you very soon. I’m writing a story about my life when
the day I Left my
mum. bye. Love [name] Thanks bye!”
“Me Not geting in to trouble Because I dont want to go back into a
secure unit again.”
“being in home with my family”
“to see My non and My grandad and [ill.]”
“I would like to have a boyFriend who is older than me and stay in
contack with [names]”
“I would like a lot of things to be different like have a bit less of
people going in care because
there running out of spaces everywhere (I was lucky to have my home
now). If possible they
could of put posters up telling them to become part of the team and help
people, with family
problems.”
“I would like social workers to get off my back I’m 16 and want to get
on with my life.”
“To foster children and show them, there is life behind the clouds. I
don’t see the point in
bringing more children into the world when there is enough with-out
homes.”
“To be settled and happy and have a horse.”
“Sometimes staff do not help you do eneyting.You ask For Food [ill.] And
you get them 4
hours letter on that night if you want to go swimming The always need to
Tack us the may
Like beeing with us but they cant alway’s bee with us we now that They
Love us but nothing
real cares This is my [ill.] and it is I dont think they do care about
us. I wish I was never in care
becouse They do not Love us They say They do”
“I’m not going back to drugs. I don’t want to re-offend. I want my own
flat to start a fresh life.”
“nothin”
“PEOPLE TO HURRY UP AND DEAL WITH MY FUTURE”
“Learn how to do a larger variety of household tasks, Eg. cooking.”
“I would like every social worker to leave me and my family alone.”
“Police checks”
“More independance”
“FOR ME TO HAVE A BETTER LIFE AND TO BE HELPED PROPERLY TO
INDEPENDANCY! TO MEET MORE PEOPLE LIKE ME (IN CARE/HOMES) AND TO
HAVE OUTTINGS AND DISCUSS OUR LIVES WITH EACH OTHER/HOW IT HAS
AFFECTED US.”
“TO Be Trusted anD treateD like a 16 year olD noT yunger anD not olDer.
noT having to live
up to fosTer Parunts stanDerDs all the time”
“get more support and be informed of things happening to do with myself.
to get hold of my
social worker more easier.”
“Just what i’ve already said”
“id like to be happy.”
“To be with foster carers,To have a cat and call her Milly. I would also
like to look after
children when I am older. From [name]”
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“I would like to take over the world. I would like to be Crowed Queen. I
would like to look
like Britney Spears but my name is [...]. I would like to get out of
this mental asyoum. I would
like to be a cooker becouse its cold in the asyoum. I want to be cheese
and nibbled by a mouse
while plugged into my computor.”
“Seeing all my friend and staying over night go clubing and go colage
have an house of my own
and a car with a good job looking After children with disabiltaiys and
mental helth.”
“I don’t want anything to be different because I am happy with
everything that I have.”
“all family members together”
“I use heiron but I’m now on a MetherdoNe script and I’m oon a I.S.S.P
order with Y.O.Y and
I’m doing well on it”
“Might Like to Live with my mum or sister or brother to Live with them.
training for a good
Job. I like to have a Flat to share with friends.”
“better life, with people who care about me and would acept me for who i
am!!”
“I Like see my mother on my birthday and Christmas.”
“to go back to my famerly”
“nothing”
“I am hoping I will be very independant when I leave care”
“I had 13 diffrent Foster cares untill I found this one now. I have been
here nearly 5 years and
I’m Happy where I am.”
“Well I would just like my parents to get to know me as I am And stop
bringing the past up.
Because I know that I have changed.”
“I don’t know”
“Things are different now. Ive applied for College next year. I have 2
jobs. I have support. I see a
Counsellor to help me to get over my past. I have an effectionate
caring, and Supporting
boyfriend of 17. and This time next year ill have my own counsel flat.
Im So Glad for all the
support of all the carers who are out there.”
“Live with my Mum + Dad”
“I would of liked to have stayed with my Foster Mother”
“Well I Don’t know About me but I just wanna Leave care as soon as
possible, cause like I live
in a children’s home with four people Like there’s 3 girls and there’s
one Boy that Lives in a
children’s home, it’s a Bloody nightmare ahh! Someone save me pLease
Before anything else
happens to me if ya get me.....”
“fuck knows”
“I would like to be at home”
“MORE TIME WITH MY SON. [name and date]”
“Everything O.K.”
“I would like to get on with my life with my boyfriend and my baby and
for me and mum to
keep a good relationship.”
“Get money ever week. Get in to Part time college. No [place]. Part time
joB.”
“not get betten by my foster carer.”
17 YEARS OLD
“to go home with my mum and to be happy”
“keep in contact with present foster family seeing my sister and my
brother sam. keep an decent
job with a good pay which I enjoy moving out and getting a flat to share
with love ones. watch
my younger brother grow up. Have a kids of my own to love and care like
my present parents
have done to me!”
“NOT TO BE MoveD again. MORe support in Promblem’s. [ill.] social
working.”
“have a nice and Peaceful life”
“Being happy, own flat and a career. something i enjoy! By [name]”
“Living Independencely flat of my own”
“I would like to see my mum and sisters more.To see my Frinds is well. I
like spend more time
and stay over some night with mum and my sister. I love my mum and my
sisters very much
and I dont wont to see them get hurt or unwell.”
“I would like to keep out of trouble and settle down with a job”
“Nothing”
“I would like to get my head sorted out, forget the Past, see my little
brother more because he
blames me for my old foster dad, finish college and become a social
worker! Then when all that
is done I would like to foster!”
“Not live on my own at 18.”
“geting a Place BY MY Self. be near my mum and Brothers and sister”
“I wish I lived with my mum cos we get on now + I miss my baby brothers.
I miss them that
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much that sometimes I want a baby myself. And I wish I didnt have to
move out when I’m 18.
And I wish it wasnt so obvious I was in care. I would like other young
people to have a nice
placement when they come into care so they dont have to keep moving
around. I wish that
social workers etc cared when they leave work as well as when their at
work.To them its just a
job but to us its not.We depend on them 24/7 not just 9-5 five days a
week.”
“I AM HAPPY AT THE MOMENT.”
“I would like social services to just leave me alone when I am 18!”
“no differant”
“knew what I want to accheive out of life.”
“Nothing because I am where I am and got to get on with life. the way it
is. can you give me
more information what a care plan is. I would like one of these mag so
could you send me one.
[address] Thanks [name]”
“stay the same”
“EVERY THING STARTING with the RULES from [name] Please right back
[address]”
“I need them to listen to what I want and need”
“I wanna get on with my life, I can’t wait to get out of CAre!”
“My life is better now i’m out of Care there are some hard times but I
Get trough them.”
“I want to end up with my own house with my little Daughter and have a
job with good pay
and a new boy Friend who will respect me For what or who I am I’ve never
had nobody like
that in the past I want to start Feeling Good about myself and have more
confidence about it.”
“My Attitued My behavoure. I would like these to be diffrent because I
am taking it out on my
foster mum.”
“I wouldn’t, I MAKe the decsions for Looking foRwaRd I Get the guideness
& help, support I
need. It’s thAnks to the suppoRt & guideness & help that I’ve
Got A heAd on my shouldeRs”
“I like to have holiday packag at least once a year somewhere around the
world or UK”
“me going into a rehab and getting help. [name and address]”
“More money more resonserbitty to carear than sociall worker cos he or
she does not look after
you see you ever 3 weeks to see what happening because when they see you
they pretend they
know what going on when they don’t From [name]”
“Have my own flat and get on with my life”
“Finishing CoLLege having my own flat. Being financially independent and
having a good life style.”
“Social workers to investigate into children’s family properly and not
to take children away for
no apparent reason.”
“Well like I said, being in care has made me someone I wanted to be. I’v
had to go up really
fast and ve responsable 4 my actions which in life some people don’t
really learn till later life. I
was a first very depressed and took an act of self harm. But looking
forward I no that 17 year
old should be old enough to take charge (other) of themselves and be
respectful and responable.
[name]”
18 YEARS OLD
“More money!”
“I would like to have self confidence about my epilepsy becoz my family
keep shouting at me
saying stop being so stupid”
19 YEARS OLD
“I would like children all over the UK to have the same treatment in
foster care that I did.And
try to encourage more people to join in foster care sceme and stop
children having to be move
from one placement to another.”
“To my Parents to be better Parents and not to abandon any of their
other children to SS
Dept”
20 YEARS OLD
“Nothing”
AGE NOT SPECIFIED
“achieve a career in health + social care get married have children lot
and lot of Them”
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Summary of findings and
recommendations
Key Findings ‘Your Shout!’
• Nearly half of the sample could not name
their care authority.
• Almost a quarter of children had
attended court, higher than expected. Only a quarter
of these had a chance to speak to the judge.
• More than a quarter of the children did
not know what their care plan was.
• Well over half of the respondents did
not see enough of their father.
• More than a third of the sample did not
see enough of their mother.
• A third did not see enough of their
siblings.
• Nearly half did not see enough of other
family members (including grandparents).
• Over half did not see enough of former
foster carers who were important to them.
• A quarter did not see enough of their
friends.
• One in five children responded that
being in care did not make them feel safe.
Key themes
• The wish to leave care, although a good
proportion did not wish to leave the carers with
whom they were well settled.
• Children wanted more contact with
significant people in their lives.
• Children’s goals were relatively modest.
• Many children displayed a strong sense
of personal morality and family responsibility.
• Children displayed a desire to express
themselves (perhaps skewed by self-selecting sample).
• The substantial number of written
statements offer an opportunity for further thematic
analysis.
The sample
725 children and young people have contributed to this survey.The ratio
between girls and
boys was 3:2 (59%: 41%).The great majority of respondents (85%)
classified themselves as
“white British”.The average age was 13.5 (slightly higher for girls).
Over one in ten children
(12%) said that they had a disability or long-term health-problem.The
questionnaires were
distributed through Who Cares?, a national magazine which has a circulation of 30,000 and is
produced by the Who Cares? Trust for young people in public care in
England,Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland.The sample is therefore, in a sense, self-selecting.
Knowledge of care authority
391 (55%) of respondents were able to name their care authority. 181
(26%) ticked the ‘don’t
know’ box, 59 (8%) gave an inappropriate response and 75 (11%) left the
answer blank. Overall,
315 respondents, or nearly half the sample, were not able to name their
care authority.Younger
children (the under 12s) were more likely to know than the older age
group.There was also a
tendency for those with a disability or health condition as well as
white British respondents to
be more likely to name their care authority than those of other ethnic
origins. Some young
people were aware that they were being looked after by a system rather
than a person and were
critical of this:
“But the system is bogged down by bueracracy.”
Others appreciated the perceived strength of an organisation:
“Childrens board make sure im safe and dont come to no
harm.”
Experience of court proceedings
163 young people (23%) said they had attended court when decisions were
being made about
them (the “Court sample”). 38% of those aged 16 or over had been to
court, compared with
24% of the 12-15 year olds and 9% of those under 12.This is more than
might have been
anticipated, and the figures may be inflated by older respondents
attending court in connection
with criminal proceedings, and younger ones attending court to give
evidence against alleged
abusers. However it does give an encouraging indication that practice is
moving on in this area,
and that judges are becoming more willing to allow children the
opportunity to attend court.
Sources of help
In relation to help received during court proceedings, the five most
popular sources cited were
social workers, a named person, solicitors, carers and family members.
Speaking to the Judge
For the Court sample, over half of those who responded (57%) said they
did not have the
chance to speak to the judge (including 19% of the Court sample who said
they wished they
had had the chance to speak to the judge). 16% said they would not have
wanted to.Out of the
88 children who did not go to court but would have liked to, a higher
proportion (34 or 39%)
said they would have liked the chance to speak to the judge whilst only
three said they would
not have wanted to do so. Just over a quarter of those in the Court
sample responding to this
question (27%) said that they were able to speak to the judge.
Being listened to and treated with respect
40% of the girls and 44% of the boys who answered this question said
they thought that they
had been listened to and that their rights had been respected.
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Those aged 11 and under were more likely to consider that they were
listened to (55%) than
those aged 12-15 (37%) or those aged 16+ (41%).
More of those of minority ethnic origin considered that they were
listened to and their rights
respected than was the case with the white British children (48%
compared with 40%), but this
difference was not statistically significant.
“I need them to listen to what I want and need”
“I don’t really know but I Just want someone to be
there for me to trust me and love me and
just have a laugh and a joke. I think you should see
what the foster placement is like before
you send a kid there see what kind of place it really
like and see what the people are like and
trust me Ive been sent evry where [places]. See what
decishion the child wants to make before
you jump to things think about what the child wants it
could come out good in the longrun.”
Care plans
487 (71%) of respondents said they knew what their care plan was, but
196 (29%), over a
quarter of the sample, did not.Theoretically, in accordance with current
guidance, all the
children should have known about their care plan.They should also have
been involved in
writing it. 228 (35% of respondents) reported that they had, while the
majority (417 or 65%)
had not. Nevertheless, 392 children (56%) said they were happy with
their plan, while 94 (13%)
said that they were not and 220 (31%) said they did not know. 139 (23%)
said that there was
something they would like to change while 454 (77%) were broadly
satisfied.There were clear
indications that being given accurate information, being consulted and
participating in planning
was very important to the young people and contributed to their sense of
worth and selfesteem.
“I would have liked to have had more info and would of
liked to have more say in the matter”
“Adults listening to our points of views instedd of
decideing for us. not have Police checks. go
back to your parents when the child and the parent
knows they are ready and probably have a
regular social worker comeing around to see how things
are getting on.”
Contact
256 children (39%) did not see enough of their mothers. An even higher
proportion 359 (60%)
of the sample did not see enough of their fathers. More than a third of
the sample, 238 (37%)
did not see enough of siblings, while 321 (49%) did not see enough of
other family members.
Although the questionnaire included grandparents in ‘other family members’
many children
specified their wish to see grandmothers and grandfathers in their
written comments.
186 children (28%) did not see enough of friends.Well over half of the
sample (347 or 57%) to
whom previous carers were important did not see enough of them.The
results are strikingly at
odds with the requirements of section 34 of the Children Act 1989 which
contains an
assumption of reasonable contact. If one takes this with the associated
findings in the adult
survey in relation to the lack of commitment to partnership with parents
and support services
for children and families, then there are clear indications not for
substantial amendment but for
a review of current practice. Even allowing for the fact that it may not
be possible or safe for
some of these children to see these key people in their lives the
results are highly significant.
Some children were struggling with the difficulties of maintaining
contact with key people and
the choices that entailed:
“maybe staying with my mum and then I might be able to
see her more might even know my
dad. I’d be able to see my sister more. But I wouldn’t
know my friends my foster cousins and
mostly I wouldn’t be able to see or meet my foster
parents.”
Safety in care
507 (78%) of those responding to the question said they felt safe in
care. 147 (22%) said they
did not. Girls were more likely to respond negatively to the question of
safety than the boys
(23% of the girls compared with 18% of the boys).Younger children were
more likely to feel
safe than older children (87% of the 6-11 age group, 73% of those aged
12-14, 73 % of those
aged 15-16 and 70% of those aged 17 or over).
Children of minority ethnic origin were more likely than white British
children to say that care
did not make them feel safe (29% compared with 22% of the white British
children).
Feeling safe is a major factor in facilitating the emotional well-being
which would allow
children to settle in new placements:
“Sometimes coz i hated been moved about not knowing
where i was going next and who these
people where so sometimes it was quite scary and
upsetting as I could never settle down and
was always playing up at school and at home”
Looking back
The key themes were:
• The wish for more contact with family
and friends.
• The wish not to have gone into care.
• Regret about behaving badly.
• Regret that their family had behaved
badly.
• The wish to live in a ‘proper’ family.
• The quest for ‘normality’ as defined by
orthodox behaviour, i.e. not being moved around and
not being abused.
Many of the responses demonstrated a high degree of self awareness and
insight, eg. I must
improve my behaviour.
Looking Forward
The key themes were:
• The desire for more family contact.
• The desire to live with the family.
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• The wish to get a job.
• The need to focus on education.
• The wish to have a home.
The goals and ambitions were modest and reflect and the young people’s
overwhelming need
to be just like everybody else.The majority did not want anything
potentially unattainable or
unrealistic.
Recommendations
• A comprehensive review of all contact
arrangements – both direct and indirect - for children
in public care.
• An amendment to section 34 of the
Children Act 1989 establishing a statutory assumption
of the right to contact between siblings.
• Additional resources to facilitate
contact, family support and reunification.
• Increase resources to ensure high
quality placements for looked after young people and
reduce unnecessary moves in care.
• Funding of programmes to look at safety
issues and the long-term impact of violence on
children and young people.
• More attention to the dynamics and
management of the impact of loss and separation on
children in public care.
• Exploration of effective avenues of
communication for children who are the subject of court
proceedings with the aim of facilitating their participation in decisions
made about their
lives.
Overall, the survey findings reinforce the findings of the adult Review of Legislation Relating to
Children in Family Proceedings (NSPCC 2003), in relation to the need for a reaffirmation of the
principles of the Children Act 1989 rather than for substantial
amendment.
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Appendix 1: The questionnaire
This is a replication of the content and not the format it was produced
in.The original format
contained graphics and was more accessible for children and young
people.
About you
1 How old are you? Write age in box:
2 Are you male or female:
Male
Female
3 Do you have a disability or long-term health problem which affects
your daily life?
Yes
No
4 How would you describe your ethnic origin?
black African
black British
Chinese
Pakistani
white British
black Caribbean
Bangladeshi
Indian
British Asian
other
5 Who is your local care authority?
don’t know
You and the court
6a Have you ever been to Court when decisions were being made about you?
yes
no
I didn’t want to
I would have liked to but never had the chance
6b If you have been to court, did you get enough help?
yes
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no
I didn’t get any help
Did you have someone helpful to talk to?
yes
no
If yes, who was helpful?
6c Did you get practical help, e.g. money for fares or clothes?
yes
no
I didn’t get any help
any other comments?
6d Did anyone explain what was happening to you and what might happen in
Court?
yes
no
any other comments?
6e Did you have the chance to speak to the Judge who made the decision
about you?
yes
no
I didn’t want to
I would have liked to but never had the chance
6f Do you think your social worker and/or the Court listened to you and
respected your rights?
yes
no
don’t know
6g What would have made things easier?
more support
more practical help
more information
nothing
anything else
Your care plan
7a Do you know what your care plan is?
yes
no
7b Did you help to write it?
yes
no
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7c Are you happy with your plan?
yes
no
don’t know
7d Is there anything you would like to change in your care plan?
yes
no
any other comments?
Contact with family and friends
8 Since coming into care, do you see enough of the people you care about
and want to see?
mother
yes
no
father
yes
no
brother and sisters
yes
no
other family members
yes
no
friends
yes
no
foster carers who have looked after you in the past
yes
no
Has anyone else helped?
Finally
9 Does/did being in care make you feel safe?
yes
no
any other comments?
10 Looking back, what would you have liked to have been different?
11 Looking forward, what would you have liked to have been different?
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Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6(A)
Question 6(B)
Question 6(B)2
Question 6(B)3
Question 6(C)
Question 6(C)2
Question 6(D)
Question 6(D)2
Question 6(E)
Question 6(F)
Question 6(G)
Question 6(G)2
Question 7(A)
Question 7(B)
Question 7(C)
Question 7(D)
Question 7(D)2
Question 8(MOTHER)
Question 8(FATHER)
Question 8(SIBLINGS)
Question 8(OTHER FAMILY)
Question 8(FRIENDS)
Question 8(FORMER CARERS)
Question 8(OTHER HELP)
Question 9
Question 9(OTHER COMMENTS)
Question 10
Question 11
99.9
99.9
99.2
98.9
89.4
98.2
46.3
56.7
34.0
59.3
12.3
63.5
9.2
56.1
62.5
54.5
8.2
96.7
91.4
93.9
84.0
20.0
91.6
84.7
91.2
92.9
93.9
85.8
19.7
92.6
29.7
73.8
63.3
96.3
95.1
67.5
94.5
23.3
95.1
20.2
89.6
95.7
84.0
16.0
Appendix 2
Response to each question (by %)
The second column of figures relates to the percentage response of only
those children who
said they had attended Court (the “Court sample”).
Whole Sample Court Sample
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