All adopted children are given a book explaining why they were removed from their birth family. There is no such requirement for fostered children. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
How can you adjust to a new situation, feel safe and settled, when you don’t know how you got there?
When I was taken into care at 15, I was moved 80 miles from home. My relationship with my mum had broken down and I felt isolated and frightened. I barely knew my social worker and didn’t know any of the staff or other young people in the care home. I didn’t know why I was there. I felt I simply had to accept everything these strangers were doing.
My experience will resonate with many young people taken into care; they may feel terrified and struggle to adjust to a new place, sometimes far away from where they have grown up, while strangers take control of the key decisions in their lives. They may not understand the jargon that gets bandied around.
Research of children in care and care leavers by Coram Voice and University of Oxford’s Bright Spots programme found that half of those aged four to seven, a third of those aged eight to 11 and around one in five of secondary school age felt they were not given a clear explanation of why they were in care. Similarly, a quarter of care leavers felt the reason for their being in care had not been fully explained or wanted to know more. Given that supporting young people to understand who they are and where they come from is recognised as good social work practice, these statistics are worrying.
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