The Care Leavers Association is a national user-led charity aimed at improving the lives of care leavers of all ages. Adopted as a baby, Jeanette Winterson grew up in a strict Pentecostalist family in Lancashire. I would have said that the only thing a child needs is love, she says, reflecting on her own experience of being happily adopted by her white family in Wimbledon in 1966. This is an edited extract from My Name Is Why: a Memoir by Lemn Sissay, published by Canongate on 29 August at 16.99. Its an incredibly common experience. By isolating and highlighting the success of care-experienced people it can become voyeuristic and soothes decision-makers into thinking that meritocracy is real. On the back another poem is handwritten, composed on the train into London this morning, fresh on the page. Since then his poems have become landmarks, sculpted in granite and built from concrete, recorded on era-defining albums and declaimed in over twenty countries. My grandad and foster parents and I used to go down to the bay to get salmon, trout and mussels. My mother was a manic depressive, so I was in and out of care. I put it to him that it was the only home the boy had known.. He then secured himself a flat on Poets Corner, a housing estate near Wigan. Macavity was such a contrast to my blond, blue-eyed brother Christopher. It was only recently that one of her brothers acknowledged what shed gone through and apologised for failing to confront it. I forgave her to her face. Mr Sissay with his godmother Ethiopia Alfred (Jonathan Brady/PA) After being reunited with his birth mother aged 18,. They wanted their children to be educated and go to university. Ive loved mussels ever since. Now he works as a theatre-maker working with young and emerging artists, many of whom are also care-experienced. I carried a lot of anger for many years and then I realised that the anger is one of the things that kills people. Mcintosh managed to make it to university and now runs a Caribbean restaurant, Sugarcane London, in Wandsworth, but he remains scarred by his experiences. Other weird things started to happen. He put me gently in the car. I hadnt realised then but none of them would contact me ever again for the rest of my life. Lemn Sissay is a poet, author and broadcaster who was the official poet of the London Olympics in 2012. He told how he still had NG tattooed on him (for Norman Greenwood) but at that point changed his name and started the search for his mother who he finally tracked down in Gambia, where she worked for the United Nations. The level of invisibility of the issues facing young people leaving care has not fundamentally altered in the past 20 years., Theres still a very clear judgment passed when people hear you say, I was in care, says Akiya Henry. The motivation, he says, comes from being 11 years old, losing my dad, going into a childrens home [Skircoat Lodge in Halifax], being really badly physically abused, ending up homeless, but then going back into the care sector and seeing that nothing had changed.. Mr Sissay detailed his experiences in the British . Axa Hynes, right, with her foster sister Michelle Brown, also featured in the Foundling Museum photograph. One of the greatest signs of my own sense of independence when I left care was the day I could ask for help when I needed it. At the age of 17, after a childhood in a foster family followed by six years in care homes, Norman Greenwood was given his Birth Certificate. It could be: this is everybodys problem., Ive started to connect with my identity as an adopted person a lot more in the past couple of years, says Luke Wright, who was adopted at five weeks. My own success happened in spite of my time in care, not because of it. I know I was lucky, I was loved, he says. There are times, friends say, when he disappears altogether, depression paralysing him for months; times when he folds himself into himself. When Lennox Cato and his older brother were adopted by a white family in Brighton, they stayed in touch with their birth parents, who had come over from Grenada. He was an introvert. I just have to keep mentally strong and reverse those doubts., Participation and projects lead at Pure Insight and business owner, Natalie Hirst spent eight years living in foster care in Greater Manchester and had a mixed experience, but her resilience helped her to develop the strength and skills to overcome many challenges. Lemn Sissay is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster. I wanted to be in care to get out of that situation. His experience in childrens homes and foster families between Surrey and Lancashire was excellent. Mum and Dad said I was like Macavity. There are a lot of big emotions flying around the room. The sculpture commemorates the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which began the process of the emancipation of slaves throughout the British Empire. This is a great opportunity to celebrate our achievements, says Keith Saha of the Foundling Museum project. I spent my life searching for my birth family. Yes, you did.. Sarah looked pretty as a picture in her blue floral dress. His zodiac sign is Gemini. Ive collected a lot of names along the way and almost everyone I asked said they would come if they possibly could, he says. Natalie Hirst, right, with a girl she met while visiting her grandmother at her caravan site. My mother had schizophrenia, I had a stepfather who was very violent to my mother and to me. It's Mrs Catherine Greenwood, my foster mother of the first eleven years. Catherine and David had no children when they took me. My experience was a horror story, but it wasnt so bad in other ways, says Barrie Sharpe. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. He left school at 15 with one GCSE and two CSEs. I had no one. My care experience was both traumatic and enlightening, says Johanan Walker, who went into care in east London after she had a baby at 12. Lemn Sissay was seventeen when he wrote his first poetry book, which he hand-sold to the miners and mill workers of Wigan. Hes now a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and founder of a campaign group Every Child Leaving Care Matters. Here are a few organisations for support and information: Become has been supporting and campaigning for children in care and young care leavers since 1985. Its listening to care-experienced young people Ive been working with that has empowered me to talk openly about it., Donna Ludford applied to become lord mayor of the City of Manchester to raise aspirations for young people in the care system. I loved the Market, the Flower Park, the Big Park, the books. The abuse she endured, none of which came from her own family, was incomprehensible and frightening, she says. For ever, for ages, until the end came, no matter how volatile the day had been, Id pray shed open the bedroom door before I slept, Id pray shed sit on the edge of my bed and sing me to sleep as she did when I was younger. I found my birth father very quickly, because he was an actor, Louis Mahoney, who was a big activist for Black, Asian and ethnic minority rights in the actors union Equity, she says. Born in Wigan to an Ethiopian mother, Lemn Sissay was placed in foster care as a baby, and sent aged 12 to the first of a series of childrens homes. He spent his childhood moving between different carers after his mother was killed by his father in 1966. LEMN SISSAY MBE is a BAFTA nominated International prize winning writer. They were religious, and theyd never had [to deal with] an adolescent before. Im out here, on my own, doing the best I can, with the very little that any family member is going to offer me. I was excited because the family meeting was just me and Mum and Dad. (He later rejoined his mother after she remarried.) He is also the editor of The Fire People: A Collection of Contemporary Black British Poets (1998), and his work has appeared in many anthologies. Pete Turner was adopted at five months and grew up in Bury in a very liberal family that loved me, he says. They were an aspirational middle-class family from Lancashire. $21.87 10 New from $16.75. In and out of care from the age of five, Stanley J Browne says his horror story began aged eight, when he was separated from his siblings and fostered off to Nottingham. I still think love is the most important thing. Now Popoola is a novelist and an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London. Johanan Walker enthusiastically nods. She had a deeply unsettled childhood, moving between foster families and childrens homes from the age of six months, after her parents were badly injured in a motorcycle accident. As depicted in Steve McQueens TV series Small Axe, he was sent to live in Brixton, where his involvement in the 1981 uprisings led to his incarceration aged 18. There were times when Dad was charged with punishing me in the front room with the cane. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum 's board of trustees two years later, having previously been appointed one of the museum's fellows. Overall, the experience was good, he says, but you dont feel like youve really lived your childhood. Even though his new catering business is thriving, Bramble often feels impostor syndrome. PAIN Parents against Injustice is a voluntary organisation, run and funded by volunteers who provide help and support to families caught in the care system. Charles Dickenss orphan Oliver Twist is one of scores of names plastered over the walls of the room where the volunteers gather for coffee and biscuits before the shoot, along with James Bond, Jane Eyre, Han Solo and Huckleberry Finn. His parents, unaccustomed to dealing with a young man, said he had the devil inside him and had him put in a childrens home. You get to a point where you go, is my curiosity big enough to unsettle so much?, I became a journalist because I didnt see my community represented in the newsroom, says Sophia Alexandra Hall, an Oxford graduate who went into foster care as a teenager. Lemn Sissay on ITV News (Credit: ITV) He gained significant international recognition in 2012 when he was appointed the official poet at the 2012 London Olympics. My foster father was a teacher and my foster mother was a nurse. SOS #Dare2Care Gwynedd Council is calling for more care workers in Gwynedd. Youre on your guard. I was a deceitful one. So it didnt just have to be: this is your problem. We were very secure in our upbringing. But he did accidentally come across his birth name: Christopher Goldsmith. They treated me as if I was a Trojan horse sent into the family to destroy it. Growing up, the moment someone found out I was care-experienced, theyd make negative assumptions, says Lucy Reynolds, who had moved in and out of care eight times before being adopted aged seven. Wallwein, who received an MBE in 2018 for services to spoken word poetry, had been in 13 homes before writing her first play at 17. Why would the social worker, Jean Jones, say that my mum and dad are seen by Norman as his parents? It had its pitfalls, he says, but it was unique.. I waited in the kitchen by my mum. They wanted me to ask God for forgiveness and through him I will learn to love them. Of course I loved them. They were my parents and I loved them unconditionally. Poet Lemn Sissay says he felt obliged to accept his OBE because the award honours his younger self who overcame a "dehumanising" time in care. His Landmark poems are visible in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa. Once in the care system, he became known as Chalky White and was moved to a new home each year, ending up at Woodend Assessment Centre, near Westhoughton. Though it was clear she loved and cared for us, my foster mum used to beat us with a cane. His mother was a student at the time of his birth who had come from Ethiopia to study in Bracknell City, England. It was actually seeing Lemn [Sissay] perform that helped me realise that you could talk about it. Books were a way to escape from the madness around me, be that foster care, family, or residential homes. I was a questioner. This is the story of being stolen by the state and his 17 years in local authority care. I started thinking all over again. Theyd come down to see us and say hi. Wherever I lived, my care experience included libraries and reading, and without them I wouldnt be here, says Rosie Canning, who was put into care in London at six weeks. Why - and the search for the answer to why - became the word that defined Lemn . He loved his parents, he says, but at the time there were no black kids around. By the time Sissay was approaching adolescence, cracks in their relationship had started to appear. Lemn Sissay's poem "Some Things I Like" celebrates what we might consider discardable like cold tea, ash trays, and even people. I loved school. Lemn Sissay, writer and Chancellor of the University of Manchester, held the Great Hall of Bolton School Girls Division mesmerised during an emotional rollercoaster of an evening. Author, broadcaster, chancellor of the University of Manchester. Most children in care have someone they can call family. Thats all I knew. He learned that his real name was not Norman. Her experience of finding herself homeless and powerless after leaving care inspired her to start a campaign, calling4gr8ness.org to support young care leavers in the same predicament. I felt incredibly cared for and looked after., When Paolo Hewitt was researching his care memoir, The Looked After Kid, in his early 40s, he went back to Burbank childrens home in Woking, where he lived from 10 to 18, and realised that it was actually a great experience, especially compared with the dismal years in foster care that preceded it. When Stallone heard Riddells tale of growing up in Aberdeen childrens homes in the early 80s, he urged him to share his story more widely. Becoming a young parent motivated her to return to education as an adult. One is piteous, the other heroic. He expected a certain amount of difficulty from the exposure but its not made anything weird at all, he says. The exhibition Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 Years in Comics runs there until 28 August, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Top to bottom, left to right: Clare Gorham, Keith Saha, Michelle Brown, Kriss Akabusi, Jim Goddard, Allan Jenkins (on the right), Stanley J Browne, Siroun Button, Martin Figura, Mark Riddell, Paolo Hewitt, Lucy Sheen, Lemn Sissay, Olumide Popoola, Paul Cookson, Lennox Cato (on the right), Sylvan Baker, Axa Hynes, Barrie Sharpe. I had no idea Mum thought it was my fault. All I knew was that my birth mother, the woman who had my face and my blood, was from Africa and Africa was where poor people were. It was amazing to find him and realise where I get my activism from., Social work leader, campaigner and charity trustee. My home situation was dire. It felt affectionate then, but later I realised something wasnt right. The world of Lemn Sissay Home Tag Archives: christophergreenwood Mercy Mercy Mercy Mercy Posted on March 2, 2013 by Lemn Sissay 8 Every Ethiopian, Eritrean, American and European who has any interest in race, identity, loss, storytelling, psychology, childhood, religion, nationhood, documentary making, or intercontinental Read more [.] It was a taxing legal process that ended three years later, in 2015, with an out-of-court settlement. Born in 1967, Sissay was the child of an Ethiopian mother who was forced to give up her son against her will; he was fostered by a white couple from Lancashire who sent him back into care aged. It took her nine years before she revealed who his father was and Lemn discovered he had been a pilot for Ethiopian Airlines and had died in a crash in 1974. 9.02M subscribers Lemn Sissay is one of the UK's most revered writers. My body will skip around the table like a sprite on the solid stone floor. Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL (born 21 May 1967) [1] is a British author and broadcaster. Its not a shameful thing any more. Hoyle went into care as a young teenager and at 18 he set up a charity for care leavers called A National Voice: We campaigned to stop children in care leaving with their belongings in bin bags. Now he works for North Yorkshire county council identifying and implementing ways that we can make life better for children in care. Opening the evening with the epicMorning Breaks, he immediately pitched the listeners into a tale of the narrator clinging onto a branch for years before choosing to finally let go, having, throughout all his time in suspension, grown wings which enabled him to take flight. They were in the trunk back at home. She was taken into a mother and baby unit as a 12-year-old mum, and had to fight to keep her daughter. He has authored collections of poetry and plays. He has authored several collections of poetry, as well as plays for both stage and public radio, and was official poet of. In the Baptist church, our church, we were taught to question why. Interspersing readings from his new collection Gold from the Stone with moving and raw recollections of his childhood, Lemn transfixed the audience. Music producer/writer; founder of clothing labels Duffer of St George and Sharpeye; author; one of the two creators of the rare groove scene; photographer; activist. Riordan was in respite care several times during his first four years. He received his MBE in 2010. My care experience was lifesaving, says Antiques Roadshow expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan, who recently published a memoir called Would It Surprise You to Know?. ] is a BAFTA nominated International prize winning writer emerging artists, many of are. For children in care have someone they can call family looked pretty as a baby Jeanette... 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