Some of the CLA staff and volunteers write about their own experiences.
Darren
For some reason of late I have been a little reflective as a number of life events have occurred that have led to me considering my place/space and all that other deep crap we come up with now and again. I began thinking like I did as little boy but could never articulate what I was thinking as my head space never afforded me the right to do so. This led onto a thought process that took me thorough my life course up to when I was saved through meeting a girlfriend and the mother of my children – the rest is history so they say.
Anyways, in writing/scribbling I came up with a line of argument, a trajectory you may call it in respect of my young life up to about 18. This I though was quite poignant and relevant to the care experience of very many people from broken homes past and present as much of what I say is relevant to those having suffered and survived in the past and those who continue to experience similar disadvantages today.
Hence, I have attached a verse or two here as I think it demonstrates very clearly the idea behind putting a plaster over a problem, never solving it and in the process never having taken care of the emotional well-being of the vulnerable, which of course we all are as children (from care or otherwise).
Emotional well-being of course being the one constant that crosses the lifespan of all of us, hence the need for the CLA to keep its focus on care leavers across the life course and never forget a care experience and the emotional side of that is something that does not change for generations, regardless of policy and practice interventions.