Your Stories
Care without the system
I grew up, mostly in the care of my mother. I was an only child, and she was a single parent. For most of my childhood, she was pretty unwell. Lots of mental health stuff. Repeated suicide attempts. She would spend extended periods of time in hospital. Because of this, I spent big parts of my childhood living with other families. But none of this was ever done through any kind of official foster care or government involvement.
All time I spent living with other families during my childhood happened because of relationships. When I reflect on my experience of “out of home care” and contrast it against what a child is likely to experience today (where there is a ‘system’ involved), I feel pretty confident to say that my experience of care was significantly better.
Kids in care need safe reliable relationships more than they need agencies and case managers.