Poetry
Life in Care
by Paula Westwood
When you're in care
You wonder where home and the heart is
You're moved all around
And you don't make a whisper
Nor a sound
You're so messed up
You end up looking at life as always bleak
Social Services fail to notice
Those tell-tale signs of a cry for help
Some end up homeless and on the street
Others end up prostitutes or in a cell
Now that must be hell
Some have commited suicide
Or tried to take their own life
While others have ended up a teenage mum
Only a few do well
With no family to care
Nor Social Services being there
You see I've often wondered why
They call it care
'Cause really it should be called a system
That fails young people
Foster, adoption and residential homes
They're all the same
Just part of the system
They all set young people up to fail
In their own way
You end up missing out on your childhood
And end up with lonely teenage years
And are expected to grow up way beyond your years
And finding so many things in your life that you
Have feared
I say this, take it from someone who knows
The care system is a system which
Sets young people up to fail
A National Voice
is an organisation run by and for care experienced young people. Staff are also care experienced.
Our main aim is to create positive changes to the Care System in England and provide a national platform to hear the voices of approx 60,000 children and young people who are Looked After.