Esther’s relationship with social workers didn’t begin fruitfully. She felt unable to open up with the two workers she had after first moving into foster care at the age of 14, because they were always keen to leave as soon as the clock reached 5pm. “I was holding things back,” she remembers.
Then she met Yvonne. “She made an effort with me and would speak to me like a mother,” says Esther, now 21. “She made me think ‘this is what it would have been like if I’d had a mum’.”
Yvonne encouraged Esther to focus on her schoolwork, rather than just social activities, and instead of going straight into work after school as she’d always envisaged, she studied events management at university. She’s currently doing a masters in human resources and wants to specialise in social worker recruitment.
“I could have gone the other way and just been a rebel,” Esther says. “But Yvonne made me understand my strengths and my worth, and what I was more than capable of doing.”
A guiding principle for Barking and Dagenham’s social workers is ensuring progress for children, whether that’s in education, health or their relationship with their worker, explains Joanne Tarbutt, the group manager for looked after children.
“It’s about not losing sight of the individual,” she says. “I think that’s something we do really well. You’re not always going to get the outcomes you want for all children – that’s the reality. But not giving up, I think we do that well. I never feel that people are written off. There’s a sense of ‘in there for the long haul’.”
Peter, who was in care from the age of three, credits social workers’ tenacity with helping him get where he is today. He spent little time at school and struggles with reading and writing, but now has his own demolition business and has recently started a second venture offering handyman services. He still calls his worker, Derrick Kerr, a couple of times a week. “If there’s any bad times, Derrick will help me out,” the 22-year-old says.
Peter hasn’t always agreed with social services’ decisions. When he was nine, he was separated from his older sister, and they’re no longer in touch. “I was quite happy with my sister,” he says. “I think that is one of the biggest mistakes they could have made.”
But he says social workers played an important role too. “If Derrick wasn’t there I’d be a bit lost,” he says. “I’ll be straight on that one; I’d probably be more likely to be homeless. If I hadn’t had the right support network … I would have been chucked out of my flat, on the wrong side of the law.”
Eventually, Peter would like to offer care leavers apprenticeships with his businesses. Wanting to help young people in the care system is a common theme: Esther would like to be a foster carer one day, and 26-year-old Deborah talks to professionals about her experiences in care – good and bad – for the council’s Total Respect training programme.
Deborah, an English-as-a-second language lecturer at Barking College who has a law degree and dreams of becoming an academic, is also considering establishing a mentoring service for children in care, delivered by care leavers. She went into care at 15.
“My social worker when I was a care leaver was really brilliant – she sorted out everything I needed in terms of paperwork – but because I was labelled a ‘good girl’ I don’t think the emotional support was quite there,” Deborah says. “In terms of ticking the boxes and making sure you have everything, getting you into a flat, that was done. But I suffered from depression for a long time.”
Louise, 15, thinks the system has improved since she started in it as a nine-year-old. “When I was first in care I was treated like I was a nuisance,” she says. “Now it’s more like ‘OK, we’re going to listen to what you’re saying, we’re going to understand and try to help’. I have confidence in my social workers. If you’re having a problem, they’ll fix it.”
Louise, who wants to be an English teacher, is a member of Barking and Dagenham’s children in care council, Skittlz. “It’s given me the confidence to say ‘I’m not just a child in care, I’m a child’,” she says. “Knowing these people and being nurtured, respected and trusted by them has had a big positive impact. I’ve gone from being a child who didn’t trust anyone to knowing that if I need help, I can come forward and I’ll get it. Not just in care, but in school, and in life.”
Some names have been altered at the request of the interviewees.
For more information about working in social care in Barking and Dagenham, click here.
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