Breaking the cycle of neglect

12:24pm Monday 1st December 2008

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Children’s charity Barnardo’s has produced a harrowing advertising campaign highlighting the damage that demonising or neglecting so-called problem children can have on their future development.

The ‘Break the Cycle’ campaign comes as stark statistics reveal that more than 60 per cent of Yorkshire people surveyed feel that young people are acting like animals.

Barnardo’s, which operates several projects in the Bradford district, argues that children who engage in anti-social activities or are labeled troublesome are often the product of disadvantage or abuse.

The charity also challenges the perception that young people are responsible for the vast majority of crime and anti-social behaviour, a prejudice which is not borne out by statistics, it asserts.

Peter Allinson, director of Barnardo’s Yorkshire, said: “Some might say that there are children who are difficult to believe in – those who are troublesome or who engage in anti-social behaviour.

At Barnardo’s, we argue that it is these children who especially need our help and support.

“Most children in trouble are trapped in a cycle of disadvantage. They suffer financially, educationally and are more likely to suffer from poor health.

“Our work and intervention can help to break this cycle. We know that most children who start down the wrong path can be helped to change direction.

“We want people across Yorkshire to believe in these children and support us in our work to tackle these problems.”

One example of a young person who has escaped the cycle is Bradford teenager Candice (not her real name).

Candice’s problems began when she was only 14. Her life began to disintegrate and spiral out of control and her future seemed to be growing bleaker.

Rarely at home due to rows with her family and a witness to the horror of domestic violence, the teenager’s behaviour began to worsen. She was excluded from school for fighting, truancy and swearing at her teachers.

She began to lose touch with all of her former friends. Bored and without focus Candice turned to drugs and alcohol, and petty crime such as shoplifting.

Left to her own devices her life could well have continued along that self-destructive path.

Speaking of her experiences Candice said: “I was a proper ‘wild child’. I was out of control and causing complete mayhem.

“Everyone else was smoking cigarettes so I started to smoke cigarettes, and then everyone else was smoking drugs so I started to smoke drugs. I was always rowing with my parents and constantly being kicked out of home, but they always told the police that I had run away so that they wouldn’t look bad.

“When I was meant to be at a case conference to talk about my future, my parents went out and took my shoes so that I couldn’t leave the house to attend.

“I was living here, there and everywhere, with cousins, grandparents and boyfriends, but never felt really welcome. I was smoking drugs nearly every day and getting totally out of my face.

“On the rare occasion that I did see my family they were always critical of me and didn’t take my problems seriously.

“My own parents said that they didn’t love me. They said that I was a mistake. I felt so rejected that eventually I took an overdose and ended up in hospital.”

Social workers referred Candice to Turnaround, a Barnardo’s project which works specifically with young women who have suffered third party abuse where she was introduced to her own project worker.

Together, they created a chronological record of Candice’s childhood experiences and memories. Almost all of them were negative and focused on pain.

It was clear that Candice was full of anger towards her family and felt unsupported.

She had a very negative view of relationships after seeing so much domestic violence at home, and had been drifting from boyfriend to boyfriend having under-age sex. Some of them had even punched and bitten her.

One piece of work involved a series of questions which ended with Candice being asked to think of something that was special about her – she left it blank. In her mind, she was convinced that she wasn’t special to anyone for anything.

Today, Candice lives independently of her family and is in a steady relationship. She still meets her project worker whenever she has a problem or needs someone to talk to.

Candice said: “I had never heard of Barnardo’s before. I thought they would be just like everyone else.

“I didn’t think anything would work. I would be on my own for a long time. I used to ask myself if this was all my life was ever going to be.

“But the people at Barnardo’s talked to me like I was a mate and they listened to my problems.

“Thanks to their help, I’ve calmed down quite a lot. I walk away from fights, and now I want to be with boys who respect me.

“My life’s so much better than it used to be.”

What People Think About ‘Trouble’ Children

Research conducted by YouGov shows that: Just under half (49 per cent) of people believe that children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults.

43 per cent agree something has to be done to protect us from children.

45 per cent think that children are feral in the way they behave.

A survey conducted among Barnardo’s young people, of whom just over half have been in trouble, found that most of them thought that young people get into trouble because of boredom and peer pressure.

Of the 393 youngsters, aged between ten and 23: 44 per cent said bad behaviour is encouraged when the media portrays their peers as misbehaving.

84 per cent said young people get into trouble because of boredom.

88 per cent said having more things to do and places to go might stop young people getting into trouble.

32 per cent would go to friends for help if they were in trouble.