Young people's stories
These are the stories of just some of the young people that we've helped.
DISABLED CHILDREN
Jerome
Jerome is 11 years old and used to live with his parents and younger sister. He is disabled and visiting the zoo is his favourite thing to do.
Jerome’s mother has complex health problems and is unable to work so his father has to stay at home to care for her. Two years ago, Jerome’s social worker felt that he wasn’t receiving adequate care from his parents. The social worker decided that he should be placed in council care. No-one asked Jerome what he thought about this or what he wanted to happen.
Jerome was moved to a residential home, 30 miles away from his family. He found it stressful and frightening living there and regularly told the workers that he wasn’t happy. No-one listened to his fears so he became more and more distressed. One night, when one of the other boys was taunting him, he lashed out physically, which meant he was labelled as having challenging behaviour.
The decision was taken to move Jerome to another home, four and a half hours drive away. This home wasn’t set up to accommodate his disability, so he couldn’t do the things he liked and it was difficult for his family to visit him.
After being moved to three more homes in 18 months, Jerome was finally able to meet with an independent advocate. He told the advocate how he felt and what he wanted to happen. The advocate ensured that Jerome was consulted about where he was sent to live and what he needed to feel safe.
Without an advocate, Jerome would have remained in unsuitable accommodation, feeling frightened, unhappy and lonely. By working with his advocate, Jerome now lives in a home where people understand his disability and he can be involved in the decisions that are taken about his life.
CHILDREN AT RISK ON THE STREETS
Leila
Leila, 15, started running away when she was 11 after repeated sexual, physical and emotional abuse by her stepfather. When she reported it to the police and social services all they did was to send her back home where she experienced further abuse. Leila felt that no one was listening to her, or cared about what she had been through and she wasn't provided with any counselling or special help. By the age of 13 Leila, who was now in care, started taking heroin and crack cocaine.
Leila became vulnerable to sexual exploitation as her addiction spiralled and she needed money to pay for the drugs. Eventually, Leila was referred by Social Services to The Children's Society. They listened to what Leila had to say and worked with Social Services to find Leila care where she felt safe. She is no longer on drugs and is back at school.
Leila said, 'The Children's Society listened when no one else would. Now I feel I can speak out and help protect and prevent other young people from taking drugs and being lured into sexual exploitation. I used to think that I was a prostitute pure and simple. However, I now realise that I was a child who was being sexually abused and exploited.'
Sara
Sara, 16, first ran away from foster care at the age of 13. She was being bullied at school; with other pupils kicking and punching her. In a last attempt to get someone to listen to her, she took an overdose. The first time Sara ran way she spent three days on the streets. She hid in public toilets for fear of being found and taken back to her foster home. She was scared. When she asked people where she could go, they looked at her in her school uniform and told her there was nowhere.
After several days on the streets, Sara was approached by a man and a woman who offered her a meal and a place to stay. Sara was starving and cold. It had been hours since she had last had a proper meal. She got into the car with them. The first night, they provided her with a hot dinner and a place to sleep and listened to her problems. But the next night the man wanted Sara to sleep with him. When she refused she was beaten. Afterwards they bandaged her arm and bathed her bruises and apologised. Sara felt reassured and loved. At least it was better than returning to foster care where she would be forced to go to school and face the bullies again.
Sara was eventually returned to foster care but continued running away. She found herself with a group who were heavily into drugs and she also became a drug user. Soon she owed large sums of money for her drug habit and she fell into prostitution to pay off these debts.
Eventually, Sara was referred to a project worker from The Children's Society's LAMP Project. They listened to her and recognised how vulnerable she was. The Children's Society made a Child Protection Referral on her behalf. She is now at college doing a Performing Arts course.
Kerry
Kerry started running away when she was a teenager. She would stay with drug users, older men or sleep in parks and empty garages or houses. Sometimes she would self-harm. She was 15 years-old and living in a children's home when she was referred to The Children's Society's project, Lancashire Children's Rights Services. She had been moved to secure accommodation because of her offending behaviour and had been sent to court on numerous occasions. A project worker started to visit Kerry and slowly build up a relationship with her.
Kerry gradually opened up with the project worker. The project worker found that Kerry liked to draw and paint and encouraged her to create artwork for the project. Kerry's visits to the project helped build her trust with the project She talked about the reasons why she had moved from her birth family (and the difficulties she was experiencing. The project worker helped others to understand Kerry's feelings and found the right support staff and mental health services for her.
Lancashire Children's Rights worked with Kelly for three years. There were many ups and downs: Kerry continued to run away and put herself in danger. She self-harmed and once she threw herself into the sea late at night because she wanted to end her life. However gradually there was a marked change in how she was and how she was behaving. The project worker found her the right health support, sorted out her accommodation and when she approached 18 years-old supported her in the transition to independent accommodation, making sure that local authority children's services fulfilled their responsibility to her.
Kerry continued to get involved in different pieces of work with other young people at the project and this gave her lots of confidence. She helped carry out staff interviews, attended events for The Children's Society and even ended up supporting other young people who were going through difficult time. Kerry believes that without the caring and consistent support of Lancashire Children's Rights she would have probably ended her life.
