“Ms Cherry says her ambition is to describe how it ‘feels’ to be a child in care – and in that she succeeds beautifully. With the gift of a true story-teller, she uses her own experience of being in care and those of others to give voice to an often hidden population. Honest, intelligent and highly readable – this book is worth a hundred academic tomes to anyone who wants to truly understand what it means to have been a looked after child. This is a must read for policy makers.”
Shahid Naqvi,
BASW – British Association of Social Workers
Imagine not knowing what happens to your child after the age of 18 or 21 years old. The data currently collected is only part of the story; there is no data collected at the point of entry into the system and none collected from adults who have experienced being in care and have had the opportunity to reflect upon what happened and therefore contribute to policy making.
This book is a collection of stories that focus on the adult voices, including the Author's own, of personal insights and reflections of having been a Looked After child; the stories span five decades.
Unique in its delivery, this book is used by Social Work tutors, foster carers, adopters, social workers, teachers, youth workers and anyone working with young people to gain a deeper insight.
This is a story about love and pain, hurt and isolation, a depth of a life, the big things and the little things, how we live our lives through our relationships with others and where we feel we fit in. It is how we explain that relationship that enables us to tell our stories and I tell mine, through the language of emotion and through the feelings that remain with me.
Through these stories, we can share lost and unheard voices. We can have a discussion and provide some thought-provoking information and recommendations for foster carers, teachers and staff in social care working directly with young people. The strangeness of there being little information in the public domain about the adults who have been children in a system that had been their corporate parent is highlighted and in doing so gives rise to the opportunity for change.
Shahid Naqvi,
BASW – British Association of Social Workers
Imagine not knowing what happens to your child after the age of 18 or 21 years old. The data currently collected is only part of the story; there is no data collected at the point of entry into the system and none collected from adults who have experienced being in care and have had the opportunity to reflect upon what happened and therefore contribute to policy making.
This book is a collection of stories that focus on the adult voices, including the Author's own, of personal insights and reflections of having been a Looked After child; the stories span five decades.
Unique in its delivery, this book is used by Social Work tutors, foster carers, adopters, social workers, teachers, youth workers and anyone working with young people to gain a deeper insight.
This is a story about love and pain, hurt and isolation, a depth of a life, the big things and the little things, how we live our lives through our relationships with others and where we feel we fit in. It is how we explain that relationship that enables us to tell our stories and I tell mine, through the language of emotion and through the feelings that remain with me.
Through these stories, we can share lost and unheard voices. We can have a discussion and provide some thought-provoking information and recommendations for foster carers, teachers and staff in social care working directly with young people. The strangeness of there being little information in the public domain about the adults who have been children in a system that had been their corporate parent is highlighted and in doing so gives rise to the opportunity for change.
