Inside the system: What life holds for a child in care in Cambridgeshire
“At the time you think you are like the big man but, looking back on it, I was only a kid.”
Sophie, 19, who asked to not to be identified, came into the Cambridgeshire care system when her mental health problems became too severe for her family to cope with.
“I was 13 when I first went into care,” she said. “I have had mental health issues since I was 11. It started with bad behaviour and developed from there.
“After a bad argument, it was decided I would not be able to return and was given a new home.”
Sophie moved into accommodation in Cambridge. She said she was the only girl in a house of boys, who were involved in drugs and were sometimes violent.
“It was a little bit scary,” Sophie said. “At the time you think you are like the big man but, looking back on it, I was only a kid. I was the only girl in the house with five other boys.
“They were more disruptive than I was. I did have outbursts, but it wasn’t like drugs or violence. That stuff is not tolerated by staff, but they could not control it all the time or if they were doing it outside the house.”
Sophie stayed at the house for two to three months before moving to a family home.
“The family was really lovely,” she said. “I still have contact with them now. I don’t think they were used to having older children. Me being 14 was different from what they were used to.”
Sophie said her mental health issues would lead to aggressive behaviour and outbursts.
She said she was never violent towards other people, but that her feelings would lead her towards being destructive towards herself.
“My behaviour was challenging,” Sophie said. “I’d have outbursts with me being verbally aggressive and I would throw things in my room and self-harm and run away.”
According to Sophie, there is a lot of staff turnaround, with social workers and personal assistants assigned to work with young people often moving on to new roles. She said this could be disruptive and could be frustrating.
Sophie said: “The only constant level of care I had then was from the child and adult mental health service. It was the same psychiatrist. But, even now, the person who looks after us changes. My social worker or personal assistant will change. People move on or get new jobs.
“I would say for people who need help, it would go a long way to have consistency in their life. I am over 18 now and am technically a care leaver. For a long time, until I was 18, I wanted to get rid of the label of being in care. But there are still people there for you and there is still help if you need it.”
Sophie said some changes and restructures within the service were not explained properly.
Sophie moved back with her family in July last year.
“It was a long process to repair my relationship but I am really grateful we are where we are. My main support is now from my family. My mental health is much better.”
She now wants to go to university either to become a doctor or a paramedic.
An unannounced inspection of Cambridgeshire County Council’s children’s social care services took place between January 7 and January 18 this year.
According to a report from Ofsted, the authority which monitors education and children’s services standards, many aspects of the service need improvement.
The report highlights fears children’s health and care needs were too often not being met, and that things like dental checks and immunisations for children in care remain poor.
The county council says it welcomes the report and is already working swiftly to address some of the shortcomings.
Steve Baxter is Sophie’s personal assistant. He works with her and other children and young people to help them get their lives back to normal.
Steve gave up a job in teaching and accepted a pay cut to help in the care system.
“My job is very varied,” said Steve. “That is one of the things I like about it.”
Steve is a personal assistant to 25 young people aged between 18 and 25 years old. He helps them with practical things like securing housing, as well as giving them help and support with their mental wellbeing.
“The main part of my job is to gain trust from them,” said Steve. “It is very difficult to build trust.”
Steve said he is critical of the Ofsted report. He said it was simply a “snapshot” of the care system which could not fully represent all the hard work going on behind the scenes.
Kate Knight is a team leader responsible for children and young people at Cambridgeshire County Council.
She is confident that, if the Ofsted inspectors returned to Cambridgeshire now, they would see a very different picture.
“When you are going through change, it takes such a long time to work through that,” said Kate. “But we are dedicated to making sure these children are safe. If Ofsted came to look today, they would see a lot has changed.”
She praised the roles of personal assistants like Steve in complementing the work of social workers and giving young people an additional point of contact. She said the work to help young people leaving care was vital to their futures.
“A lot of these young people get to their 18th birthday and it feels like their world has fallen apart,” said Kate. “Being there is really important for young people.”
