{"id":1045,"date":"2018-07-05T15:04:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T14:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imohub.org.uk\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2023-02-14T12:49:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T12:49:54","slug":"time-to-care-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk\/imo\/career-experiences\/time-to-care-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to care more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Many people hear the word \u201ccare\u201d and immediately think of Tracey Beaker. That\u2019s what came to mind when I was young. I never thought that one day I would find myself in the same situation; I never thought that one day I would be in \u201ccare\u201d.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the holidays rolled around, my mum used to send my brothers and me to my one of my uncles or aunties, to get away from the problems at home. Technically, that counts as \u201ccare\u201d. I was about 4 years old when I started staying with my uncle\u2019s more and more often. I can honestly say I didn\u2019t like it much; I missed my mum and though I loved my uncles and aunties, I loved my mum even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got to the age of 10, things started to become more stressful at home, but instead of sending us away as usual, my mum kept us with her. Social services eventually got involved and took one of my brothers and me into care. My other brother was deemed \u201ctoo old\u201d to be taken into care. It was only for a short period, 3 days, but I still remember the relief I felt to be away from all the troubles at home. What I didn\u2019t know then is that everyone who knew my parents, our friends and neighbours knew about what was going on, and they were angry; angry at me for not being with my family!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was 13 years old, social services set my mum and dad up in hostels. They didn\u2019t feel like it was safe for my brother and me to stay there, so they decided for us to stay with my eldest brother for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About six months later, my family and I were eventually given a place to live, but troubles started to brew again. Social services were in and out of our lives whilst my brother and I carried on living at home. That is until I ran away for the second time. I was immediately placed into \u201cemergency care\u201d. Retrospectively, it all seems a bit surreal, since the very next day I was told I couldn\u2019t stay with her anymore and had to live out of a car with my brother for a week before I was returned home by social services. I know it was only one day, but for 24 hours, I had the best carer I could have ever asked for! She was kind, made me smile, and even invited my brother over to take care of me. I was happy with her, and we actually stayed in touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long until someone at college found out about my situation and what was going on in my home. This is how I got in touch with the Gaia Centre, where, after telling my story, I was advised to look for another accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, I experienced yet another type of \u201ccare\u201d, a placement properly set up through the council and facilitated by a charitable organisation. For about a year and a half, I stayed with a family in a reasonably happy environment, before I was told that I had to move into \u201cindependent living\u201d. Unfortunately, the flat share I was put in didn\u2019t work out for me at all, so I was sent back to live with my mum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, \u201ccare\u201d for me has always been a bit inconsistent, you have no independence and no way of really being yourself but, if you are placed with the right person and have kind people around you, who really invite you in and nurture you, I believe you can really thrive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Being \u201cin care\u201d or being a \u201ccare leaver\u201d brings about negative connotations with most people. They make assumptions and stigmatise you and in a heartbeat they think they know that you\u2019re trouble. I refuse to think like that, because I know that having been in care and being a care leaver, I\u2019ve had more experiences, good and bad, than someone twice my age and those experiences have shaped me into the person that I am today. From an early age, I had to learn to stand up for what I think is right and stand by my ideals, which I believe not many young people can say they can do confidently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being in care doesn\u2019t make you any different from anyone else, it just makes you\u2026you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the author
\nThis blog was originally written by care leaver for the Drive Forward Foundation.
\nFind out more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people hear the word \u201ccare\u201d and immediately think of Tracey Beaker. That\u2019s what came to mind when I was young. I never thought that one day I would find myself in the same situation; I never thought that one day I would be in \u201ccare\u201d. When the holidays rolled around, my mum used to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,25],"tags":[21,22],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-experiences","category-your-stories","tag-being-in-care","tag-leaving-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"Time to care more - IMO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk\/imo\/career-experiences\/time-to-care-more\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time to care more - IMO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many people hear the word \u201ccare\u201d and immediately think of Tracey Beaker. 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