See Me
A presentation based on the See Me art project created by young people in care in Luton working with Youthscape (formerly LCET)
A presentation based on the See Me art project created by young people in care in Luton working with Youthscape (formerly LCET)
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There are almost 60 000<br />
young people in care in the UK...
CET helped some of them tell their<br />
story through art and words...<br />
.the images and text are taken from<br />
the resulting art exhibition in<br />
December 2008<br />
All the work was conceived,<br />
designed and created by the young<br />
people themselves...
idnt sleep for the first days, coz I felt scared. I felt: where<br />
I? Im in this room, this place, people that I dont know.
olation plays a big part in my life. Im struggling<br />
ith everything and am angry about everything
my life I feel like I have<br />
o faces. I wear a fake
eel overprotected, wrapped up in<br />
tton wool. I cant even visit my
e only things that I have that I can call<br />
y own when I went into care are a
eel like there is no light in my life.<br />
e people in my life have let me
17 years old, Ive been in care for 4 years, Ive had<br />
childrens homes, 1 foster placement that lasted 24 hours,
ople think youre<br />
visible because youre
aff walk in and out of your<br />
om in childrens homes.
ure really not existing to other people when<br />
youre in care.<br />
metimes people just shut doors on you, that<br />
at makes me angry, that nobody wants to he<br />
s coz were really not worth a thing to them.<br />
ere just kids that have been abandoned, kid<br />
hat have been given up on, kids that cant do<br />
anything with their lives.
ople see me in the street, and know that Im<br />
re, they probably think that Im bad person..<br />
..I used to think that about children in care,<br />
before I came into care.
dont think society on the whole understands<br />
what being looked after even means.<br />
think people should be aware of this and kn<br />
its not some sort of disease...<br />
...its just how it is.
like you come into care and you think its go<br />
be better, but then people bully you coz you<br />
fferent. In fact its made you worse and youv<br />
en taken away from your natural surrounding<br />
and put into somewhere different.
had five fixed term exclusions since Ive bee<br />
in care. The last month I was with my Dad,<br />
was so good in school and then, as I went into<br />
care I got bad.
... they say,<br />
ure doing well for being a looked after chil<br />
even though youre underachieving.<br />
If youre getting Es and theyre saying,<br />
oh thats brilliant for a looked after child<br />
you actually need Cs to be getting anywher<br />
its not very helpful.
m 18 years old, Ive been in care for 10 years<br />
and Ive had one foster placement.
as really excited, I wanted these foster care<br />
to be a mum and dad coz as far as I was<br />
oncerned I didnt really have a mum and dad<br />
walked in and saw it as perfect, thats what I<br />
anted straight way and I remember my sister<br />
I being on our best behaviour all the time c<br />
e wanted to stay and if we were good enough<br />
we could stay.
hink the best moment of my childhood, I kno<br />
his is gonna sound mad, but it was going into<br />
re. It put me somewhere where I felt safe, n<br />
one could hurt me or damage me anymore.
asnt looking for a family, I know I already ha<br />
a family...<br />
...I was looking for people to be with and to<br />
pport me while Im in care, coz I dont want t<br />
be in there for long.
metimes you cant be a mum to someone, bu<br />
you can show them.<br />
u know what, your mum treated you like thi<br />
but this is the real image of being a mum.<br />
nd probably it will change the persons life.<br />
think Mums mean everything to us really.
or my future, Im hoping to break the chain o<br />
ooked after children coz I think theres about<br />
ee generations of it in my birth family... I wa<br />
to be the same as a normal family.
ust dont want to give the experience that Iv<br />
been through to my children.