See Me

There are almost 60 000
young people in care in the UK...

CET helped some of them tell their
story through art and words...
.the images and text are taken from
the resulting art exhibition in
December 2008
All the work was conceived,
designed and created by the young
people themselves...

idnt sleep for the first days, coz I felt scared. I felt: where
I? Im in this room, this place, people that I dont know.

olation plays a big part in my life. Im struggling
ith everything and am angry about everything

my life I feel like I have
o faces. I wear a fake

eel overprotected, wrapped up in
tton wool. I cant even visit my

e only things that I have that I can call
y own when I went into care are a

eel like there is no light in my life.
e people in my life have let me

17 years old, Ive been in care for 4 years, Ive had
childrens homes, 1 foster placement that lasted 24 hours,

ople think youre
visible because youre

aff walk in and out of your
om in childrens homes.

ure really not existing to other people when
youre in care.
metimes people just shut doors on you, that
at makes me angry, that nobody wants to he
s coz were really not worth a thing to them.
ere just kids that have been abandoned, kid
hat have been given up on, kids that cant do
anything with their lives.

ople see me in the street, and know that Im
re, they probably think that Im bad person..
..I used to think that about children in care,
before I came into care.

dont think society on the whole understands
what being looked after even means.
think people should be aware of this and kn
its not some sort of disease...
...its just how it is.

like you come into care and you think its go
be better, but then people bully you coz you
fferent. In fact its made you worse and youv
en taken away from your natural surrounding
and put into somewhere different.

had five fixed term exclusions since Ive bee
in care. The last month I was with my Dad,
was so good in school and then, as I went into
care I got bad.

... they say,
ure doing well for being a looked after chil
even though youre underachieving.
If youre getting Es and theyre saying,
oh thats brilliant for a looked after child
you actually need Cs to be getting anywher
its not very helpful.

m 18 years old, Ive been in care for 10 years
and Ive had one foster placement.

as really excited, I wanted these foster care
to be a mum and dad coz as far as I was
oncerned I didnt really have a mum and dad
walked in and saw it as perfect, thats what I
anted straight way and I remember my sister
I being on our best behaviour all the time c
e wanted to stay and if we were good enough
we could stay.

hink the best moment of my childhood, I kno
his is gonna sound mad, but it was going into
re. It put me somewhere where I felt safe, n
one could hurt me or damage me anymore.

asnt looking for a family, I know I already ha
a family...
...I was looking for people to be with and to
pport me while Im in care, coz I dont want t
be in there for long.

metimes you cant be a mum to someone, bu
you can show them.
u know what, your mum treated you like thi
but this is the real image of being a mum.
nd probably it will change the persons life.
think Mums mean everything to us really.

or my future, Im hoping to break the chain o
ooked after children coz I think theres about
ee generations of it in my birth family... I wa
to be the same as a normal family.

ust dont want to give the experience that Iv
been through to my children.