Your Stories
I was always made to feel like 'the foster kid'
My name is M and I entered into foster care when I was in primary school. Some parts of that day I remember vividly, other parts are a big blur.
Mum called someone at DOCS to ask for a food voucher because we didn’t have any food and she was trying to feed us. They told mum she had to come in to the office to get it. They made me go into a little play room. Next thing I hear is my mum screaming ‘No! M come out now” and banging on the door. I tried to get out, no one was in there with me. I was so scared and wanted more than anything to go to my mum. That night I went to a foster carer with my brother and sisters.
That was the last night I ever spent with my younger siblings. The next day they separated us, my brother and I stayed together for the next few years only ever seeing my little siblings at family events. I didn’t see my mum for another month or two. We went into a few foster care homes, there was a nice family. We stole lip balm from her. Then there was another, that wasn’t good, we were locked outside if we made noises, shower with the door open, sleep with light on, ask for permission to use the toilet. We were treated like feral animals by her. Her husband was kind.
After more short placements, we were sent to live with our family in another part of Australia. We stayed there for a year but when my uncle asked DOCS for some help with our trauma they (DOCS) came over and took us from that home too. They told us we would only be in Sydney for a few weeks and then put us into a hotel where there were lots of other foster kids.
We stayed in a lot of hotels over the next years. Then we were told we would get a chance to go home to live with our mum but….they had to split me and my sibling up. We were put on stupid charts in our new placement. I stayed there with my new carers and their kids for about 3 years. I chose to leave there because there were always arguments, mostly because I was treated very differently by them and was always made to feel like ‘the foster kid’, mostly at the end. I remember feeling hurt whenever they would say ‘you can’t come, it’s just family this time’.
Now I live on my own by I have a carer that visits me every day, takes me places and helps me learn how to live on my own. I like it a lot. My rules are easier to understand than all the other places I’ve lived.
My life would’ve been so different now if my mum was allowed to stay with us while she got help. If I had to be in a hotel for years with workers all the time, why couldn’t my mum be there with us? We would still be safe and supported by our family.