I can remember it like yesterday really, to be honest.
I can remember the social worker coming into the school
and the rest of the school left - they went home,
and it felt so odd because I went to the caretakers house after school
and stayed with the caretaker.
I had dinner in their house, which felt quite strange
and I kind of remember being told...
Excuse me.
..I remember being told I was going to stay somewhere for the night
because my mum wasn’t very well.
And then it was actually one day being met from school by the police
rather than by my mother.
The suddenly I would be coming to school in a minibus
from an assessment centre.
So, you know, even then I realised that I was seen as a bit different.
I spent most of my time in and out of care.
There was long periods of time with my mum,
but every now and then something would happen
and I'd end up in care.
Until I was about ten, when we went into care for the final time,
which started off at a foster parents.
If it was Friday night, it would be a takeaway night.
If it was Tuesday night, it was snooker.
If it was Wednesday, it was cinema.
So there would be activities in the evenings after school.
They had rules -
never play on a Sunday, you always had to sit quiet
and be quiet, you know.
We had good days and bad days.
But, as I say, they weren’t cruel to us.
They were very good.
We was fed well and everything.
Morning prayers done, breakfast eaten,
breakfast cleared away, washed up.
More jobs done.
Jobs inspected, definitely.
When the situations are overwhelming and unpleasant,
I used to just... try and find an exit.
So I used to run away
and I ran away from home
and I also ran away from children’s homes.
I loved going to Primary School, it was like a haven
because the teachers were caring and took care of me.
My headmaster knew my situation.
My headmaster came with me to visit my second foster carers
all the way in Somerset.
I actually had a counselling appointment today,
having that person there that can talk through certain things,
and... not explain, but help you understand why
and how to deal with the feelings and emotions of it all.
It's a bit like, well yeah.
I got a flat with my friend, but we didn’t get any help to get that.
You know, there was no help, there was no aftercare.
There was no... It was like, "Bye".
There was no support.
There was no bridge.
Today is sounds silly that I didn’t know I had to pay a gas bill,
electric bill, I didn’t.
Because in the children’s home, they done everything for you,
they done the lot mate.
For once in my life I had somewhere where there was no rules.
I was the rule maker.
No one could come in and tell me to do this, do that.
No one could say to me, you have to do that,
you have to do this.
I’ve been living in my flat now independently for almost five years.
You know, when there’s not much money around you learn to sort of be -
to sort of budget and manage your money effectively -
shop around, use coupons.
When so many things happen that directly affect you,
I think you notice it more when you’re living by yourself
as opposed to living at home with Mum and Dad.