Life in a Children's Residential Care Home

[@sugastolemyheart6441]

I came from Tracy Beaker episodes

[@Ella_Karina]

Same. I was just watching one on bbciplayer

[@sophia4441]

Me rn

[@jesshickman03x]

@@Ella_Karina same

[@lemonzaura6707]

Suga Stole My heart same

[@leedsleeds4794]

Suga Stole My heart omfg same 😂😂😭😭😭😭

[@bullets2ashes]

I was the manager of this home at the time this video was made and can assure everyone this is real and fact and the two main young men in this video are now adults and making good lifes for themselves.

[@cliffcarr3632]

I was put in a care home in 1967-68. My mother was to blame, and okay, so be it, but she never visited us, all 4 of us. My Gran visited us when she could, and tried to get us out as soon as possible. We had no father, so life was pretty tough. The childrens home them days was very tough, the food was terrible, and you lived in fear of the staff. It was the worst part of my life, but I never forgot. I was only about 6 yrs old at the time. While were in the home, me mother was continuing to mess about with all different men, even after being married 4 times. If not for our Gran, God bless her, she was a true loving and devoted woman who would give any one her last penny..I don't think we would of pulled through in life without her. The childrens home made me more dertermined though to become a stronger and independent person. I joined the army, to see the world and toughen me up, it worked, although I found it so hard at times, I stuck with it, and now I am on top of my life. Keep off drugs, follow your dream job, find a partner who loves you as much as you love them, and try not to look back and just go forward. And finally take care of your self in health and well being, then I promise you will have awsome life once you get out of there.

[@nataliehalvey7761]

the comments stress me, I'm 17 and I live in a care home for 12-18 year olds, I live with 3 other kids of different age, my room is pink and glittery and has many decorations in which my care home has paid for or even the staff has paid for because they genuinely do care, there is a real thing called supervised spends where they won't allow you to have cash in hand if you've been naughty, instead of just going out with mate its called "free time" we have window restraints on our windows in case we try to sneak out or we have sensitive kids who try to kill themselves by jumping out the top floor but the front door is always unlocked because I live in a care home, not a juvenile prison... kids come into care for different reasons whether its for their behaviour or they come from broken down homes, I get £58 a week for pocket money, clothing, personal needs and phone credit money and as I turn 18 this year they give me my own flat and pay my rent for me until I'm 21, care homes aren't that bad and in some care homes the carers generally do come in to work because they love kids not just for the money, I feel sorry for kids who are living in a bad care home and I feel like they shouldn't just sit there and do nothing about it when they can complain and write a report and get the house shut down and move to a different care home, a much better one where they'll be happy at, speak up and do something about it

[@adamdelamere5074]

That's my carehome

[@chloejadespencer884]

Natalie Halvey every local authority is different. Your £58 a week isn't "pocket money" your £58 a week is setting you up for when you turn 18 and go on to job seekers and housing benefit. I'm not sure where abouts in the UK you live however I do know the care system don't pay your rent until you're 21, they offer support until you're 21. You'll get housing benefit and then you'll pay your other bills. With you being 17 you'll already know this but being a care kid, don't put more stigma and false information out because we're attacked enough by the press, and people of all different classes

[@chloejadespencer884]

One last thing I will add is, you can't just write a complaint, write a report and then have a children's house shut down, it doesn't work like that

[@nataliehalvey7761]

+Chloe Foster listen,it's 4 am in the morning mate, and I never said the £58 is just all pocket money, I also included how it's for clothing, activities and wash things which pretty much explains how you have to budget that money for shampoo soap ect and things you need and the pocket money for what you would want, so please read what I said, I simply stuck up for care homes to be honest darling explaining how amazing my one is and plenty others are just as amazing too, and I understand you can't just write a complaint and get the house shut down, what I meant is if the house was that bad kids should feel as if they can write a complaint, talk to red 44 lady and ofsted, managers ect and then the house will be looked into whether it is fit enough or not and can actually be shut down IF it was that bad

[@chloejadespencer884]

Natalie Halvey do you mean Reg 44? It's never that simple, it's much easier and cheaper to move a child on that isn't happy rather than close an entire children's home. Just out of curiosity where abouts in the U.K. do you live?

[@stephanieclarke464]

2 everyone saying this is fake. Its not fake i was in a residential care home for 6 years and i was treated very well and the staff made me feel at home

[@hazza1664]

Stephanie Clarke same but in foster for 1 year then residential for 1 year

[@wydeniacampbell4357]

I was in the system back in the 80s in Connecticut U.S. Age 10y to 17y . Moved from place to place alot like 11 or 12 homes. There was nothing considered abuse in these homes. We were slammed in chairs , yelled at ,arms twisted behind back,made to stand with nose on the wall while holding our arms up and out to the sides like a t. OH and the bullying and fighting from the other kids and the staff let it happen! I was told I was lucky to have come out with a head on my shoulders.For those in a good home god blessed you or luck is on your side.

[@danialiqbal1045]

Thats how i feel when i see kids in good childrens homes they dont realize how lucky they are

[@YourVoiceFilms]

This was real. All homes we have been in are different. That was the reality of this one.

[@georginagunningham5785]

iv been in care since i was 16yrs old i aint aloud to move back home social services never helped me they just fxxx my life up

[@cliffcarr3632]

Dont give up Georgina, you are still very young.

[@LunakieCherrie]

Same!

[@estherkariuki1642]

I cannot believe what he has gone through .I tried doing bad things but not that .God be with u kid

[@martinedingivan]

As someone who grew up in care from the 1970,s until I was 16 it was no joke or fun we didn’t have the technology or tvs in our room

[@miss_stephaniehill]

I'm gonna be a care worker in one of these homes when I'm older

[@Titanicsubmarine]

I hope and believe I will be too. I really care about our most vulnerable members of society being able to have a good quality of life.

[@karendegenerous8044]

You both have such brilliant attitudes.

[@bmbm1378]

Good luck to you my wish is that by the time you grow up there will be no care home but a reformed system to support the most vulnerable kids in society. Such as parents who genuinely loves children and can offer an additional space in their home where the child would be equally able to thrive as any other child. Care home in my opinion are just no longer fit for purpose 🙃 that's was my opinion. Take care

[@dedicated2house]

I loved living in children’s home when I was younger. I was in rest bite for 2-3 years. Best times of. My childhood

[@SEAWEEDER1]

Small units are better, when i worked in residential child care it was myself looking after 16 kids aged 12-17, Kids used to play up just to get attention from staff, 7 of the kids were under EPO's. Had a 13 year old boy move to residential school was informed "he's not our problem anymore" he was only 13...decided to leave the post 5 days later, the system was failing these kids.

[@theboss-vr1jj]

love to foster a young person one day I have so much love and time to help and I really do care about giving someone a stable long term home bad times and good I wont give up the purson

[@liamandboydsfunnyadventure9742]

Thx now I'm ready for the care home that I'm going to

[@beibhinnnnn]

this is a very, very small amount of residential care homes. or else maybe just ones in england, maybe they're regulated better.. but this is NOT the reality 90% of the time. residential care homes are horrible, horrible institutions that set children up for a life of crime and failure, it is expected of them to wither away into nothing so they are treated completely sub-human. I resent this representation if it isn't true, but if it is I'm glad at least ONE home is as nice as this. a lot of young people (including myself) are left with severe and sometimes irreversible emotional damage/problems after being through the system. it took me a year to even repair myself to the point in which I could go out and socialize with people and attempt to build a new life, I isolated myself entirely and fell even further into the depression I had been experiencing in care in the first place. this in turn pretty much eradicated my social skills and I lost myself entirely. when you try to reintegrate into society with people who have never experienced what it's like to be institutionalized for most of your teenage years and/or childhood it throws you off completely. you have to readjust and learn how to act normally after being conditioned to act like the "rabid animal" that most staff/social workers think you are/treat you like. even at 18 now I'm still struggling deeply with relating to others and being myself and even knowing who I am, what my worth is or what the point even is in trying to grasp my way back up to the level of others. I hope people don't see this video and assume that life in a care home is a beautiful dream because it is a horrible fucking nightmare and that's the cold hard truth of it! I apologise for the long rant but I really and truly feel the care systems around the world are in need of reform, and if people keep thinking that it's rosy and dandy inside these horrible, cold places then it'll never change.

[@louisebaker-byers6224]

draedex - well said & I get u - I'm sorry 😔💞

[@xxclaymorexx1413]

Well said mate, hope it turned around

[@eddiecross689]

i was in care from 6-18 years old... i'm 19 now and care homes are the best

[@clementinamakanjuola8229]

why were you in care

[@eddiecross689]

i'm not going to say online..

[@eddiecross689]

that's not the case at all willow, for some people yes, but each story is different :)

[@BrainLikeEggYoke]

then I would say you are lucky to be places in one of these homes that was good and enjoyable.

[@skeatley0940]

Binkie Plays how was it I’m 12 and I’m supposed to be going there but I’m a little scared

[@jeaniefox6676]

I came here from watching Tracy beaker

[@lydiep6814]

It’s so heartbreaking that these places exist and that families have so much mess and difficulty.

[@JullieGray-l1f]

Theses kids have been through hell and still been able to talk about there story amazing.

[@e.tphonerboner3691]

When I went to residential, our home looked like a hospital and our rooms look like a janitors closet, it's a lot stricter, and we can't watch tv, we can't eat what we want, the food tastes like school Lunch, and the staff are rude....

[@BrainLikeEggYoke]

I would like to add my opinion that are based on experience of growing up in care homes, and while some young people like these places, I would say it's because they prefer it to foster homes or possibly an abusive family home, in my opinion these care homes are HELL, the system that runs these homes are designed to cover the arses of the owners...legally. there is a massive dark side to these places and this industry, in terms of 'keeping young people safe' they take away your freedom, for example, I could not go out without a staff member escorting me even to the shop, I couldn't go out with friends or even a walk for some fresh air without having to ask permission and i' d say 8 times out of ten I would be told 'we don't have enough staff to spare. not to mention my money was controlled and what I spent it on was controlled e.g if there was a jacket I liked that was 40 pounds, and I had 60 from my clothing allowance, I would be told I couldn't but it because one jacket would take up most of the allowance, then there is the staff who genuinely don't care about You, it's just a job, then there is staff who would use the power they had over you to bully you and pick on You, I could go on for hours writing about the bad and good about these places but trust me, it's no life for anybody esp young people, please bare in mind that unless it's a council/government run home, it's a business, and because it's a business it's profit and law above all else even if it takes away certain liberties fRom young people, please don't think that because these videos like this show good aspects you can find in these homes, there isn't a darker side and a darker greater aspect to the picture, as for the social services and the system that dictates them...dont get me started

[@cwutecor3]

Div Houston thanks for sharing your experience I’m a mum of a beautiful 14 year old daughter who is in a residential care home in Birmingham called positive pathway Thank you for sharing it’s good to know some of the things you mentioned

[@sungod1141]

There could be a chance I’ll move to a care home or I’ll go in foster care, I’m so scared.

[@graciebetteridge4450]

Teenage Dumbass hey i’m moving to a residential care home tomorrow and i was in foster care for 6 months if you ever wanna talk i’m here💕

[@everyonesalama4447]

A lot of the people who work in places like this really do care, I know this because I'd like to work in a place like this, and I really care x

[@tamaravogl8605]

Hey Div, really sorry to hear you had such a tough time in your care home. I just wondered if you wouldn't mind sharing some of the examples you had of staff picking on kids or bullying them?

[@demonjmh]

This is a group home.. in the U.S. residential children homes have a completely different meaning

[@JD-yh2yz]

I've been in an assessment recovery house, a behavioural difficulties home like this and now in a specialist residential school for Aspergers syndrome and complex needs. I've only been in care for like 10 months.

[@Ttyl_lukey]

Man I'm envious of this home it's so good compared to the shitty homes I've been at

[@rubenreis4387]

How was it?

[@Sameoldfitup]

When i was 5 years old my father took me from my mother with her conscent, to live with him and his new wife. It quickly bacame apparent to me that she took an instant dislike to me, more like hatered. She had four children of her own. Anyway the abuse started off almost immediately making me stand in the corner of the room facing the wall for absolutely no reason that a five year old child would understand anyway. The days went on with low level mental abuse, well to a five year old boy it was devastating. My father was a long distant driver so all this abuse took place when he was out, but he could see that I was unhappy there. So her four children started to bully me and attacked me in the house. They had a dog that use to nip me, and they would all just laugh. I started to hear her mother say to her, "Why don't you just dump him somewhere." So after a year of mental tourment at the hands of everyone in that house, she finally decided to take her mothers advice and dump me on the street I was only 6 years. So Social services placed me with a foster family but after a year the moved me to a children's home. That was a blow to me because I became part of a loving family. When I was 8 years old they moved me to another children's gome where I stayed for 8 years. I left the children's home when I was 16, then they moved me to another children's home for a year, then when I was 17 they moved me to an half way house to get me use to an independant life. I left the care system as I went in feeling alone, worried, & affraid. Of course i have not put every awful experience in this post. Thank You.

[@alisharose3630]

So sorry to hear this and what you have gone through. That’s awful what his new wife did, they didn’t deserve you. You seem strong and i hope you don’t feel lonely anymore

[@Sameoldfitup]

@@alisharose3630 it is not loneliness its the feeling of emptiness

[@Leopard1a2e]

HI..could you please share the place ,was this in UK ,England? how old are you now?God bless your life ahead.

[@mrsbee5056]

We are lucky to have residential care homes and womens refuges to rescue us and help us to escape our abusers and get our lives back on track in a normal routine

[@juliah.9037]

I've never been in a good residential treatment center..

[@ipeeper2654]

Hey, I’m in a residential at the moment..I’m only 14, been out of my real home for 2 years.. little flower.

[@georgewraight9404]

Where is this I would like to know

[@Masud_S_Hoghughi]

Many years ago they tried to put me in this chirrunz home called 25P (short for parkhurst road) in friern Barnet north London, but I just kept absconding - I never even spent one night there

[@courtneyevansxx9551]

I’ve been in care 5-18 I’ve been in good homes

[@charlieharris4736]

I got put in care when I was 4 and a half and I'm 16 now and I won't leave till I'm 18.

[@spencerannus]

I wish i lived in a care home I make life so difficult for everyone but unfortunately i don't have the choice

[@sanaiqbal2677]

I did work experience in a care home exactly like this!!

[@gamingnexus9900]

Hi I am joining childs care home in few weeks can you share your experience with me

[@kandalissmolloy5733]

It's different here in Ireland, but a lot of the stories are the same with me. I used to think the same bout mine too tbh, it's all grand now tho

[@icecoldcola08]

LOL It aint like this on homes at all!! If it is they are lucky kids!

[@willywonka8770]

No it's real I live in a care home but mines a lot better

[@icecoldcola08]

Bro trust me I lived in over 40 homes in 8 years and most are horrible places. If you're in a good home you're a lucky guy lol

[@nataliehalvey7761]

Hyper Gapple same

[@letsnottalkaboutit1727]

This is what it’s like in good care homes!

[@rubenreis4387]

@@icecoldcola08How's a bad residential?

[@bubbaparis222]

I’m in Residential care.. it kinda sucks but whatever, haven’t really got a choice. :\

[@thecraft2091]

I hope you are ok.

[@thegoodlife2937]

Do miss this care home life weirdly

[@jaxxenc5415]

I'm in treatment... Don't think this is what this video is describing though.

[@dompearson7723]

i lived in a care home for 2 years nothing like this

[@yunglsz0239]

how was it then

[@dompearson7723]

it was horrible. i'm currently in a different one now. its awful. the staff don't treat you well, they just don't make you feel at home

[@taylorharris8517]

+dom pearson this is true I was in one too

[@nataliehalvey7761]

my care home is amazing, the staff are so kind I feel bad for you, not all care home are like yours, just ask to move

[@mistybickers8806]

I'm not sure where you are now but there are good places out there. I pray God sends you somewhere you feel loved and welcome.

[@TripleXDudey]

U allowed phones and ipads and that in there

[@miss_stephaniehill]

Yes

[@Sky_347]

I'm most likely going to go into a care home soon maybe even next week but my parents dont know yet but childline are going to talk to social services again on monday morning but they already have me registered as someone in a violent home but i was wanting to see how some care homes are now and what people think about them and this has actually made me feel a bit more ready for going into one because im pretty sure i will soon but i kinda had to explain to the person i was speaking to that if my parents find out that i told them then im dead but yk

[@bestrickie2]

Interesting. I was in a young people’s unit many years ago. However it were ok in some way though I was bullied as I’m visually impaired and have mild learning issues autism aspergers autism though I’m a big guy but I were vulnerable. The staff did NOTHING and I were the incident one as the rest of the residents were pure criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics and brought on their own problems.

[@frederickmartinez3280]

I need to go there

[@sebastianlambert986]

I met someone who was in care before she left at age 17 because they said she was mature eangh and she's doing well for himself

[@flamingcrisis1353]

She's doing well for himself???

[@sebastianlambert986]

+Flaming Crisis sorry herself laughing out loud the keyboard

[@dannyyal2107]

how to the staff respond to a teenager who continuously breaks rules and come home late?

[@gabriellewarburton7961]

It depends the child in question. A lot of children from an abusive or neglected background or even attached kids wont respond to a punishment such as a time out or privilege withdrawal, so they may need to do something called positive disapline where building connection with the child comes before the teaching. Its important to rebuild the pathways and emotional connections to build and maintain positive relationships so children can learn and experience this is a safe environment

[@adamdelamere5074]

I live in a care home and it's nothing like this

[@miss_stephaniehill]

They're all different that's why xx

[@rubenreis4387]

How was your experience Adam?

[@rubenreis4387]

I'd like to work as a foster carer

[@kingofpop633]

I didn't think that young people in residential care would have bedtime limits??

[@jesseparson5949]

Is it like Juvenile??

[@jackssstaylor7438]

Al be in one tomorrow am excited cos al be able to make friends

[@curlss.3b289]

Tracy beaker😂😂😂😂

[@yeayeah8321]

i come from btec health work

[@chloestokes9226]

I'm in foster care

[@annemarieconnelly3831]

same :) x hope your okay x

[@frederickmartinez3280]

Chloe Stokes You are so lucky

[@jamievalentine462]

Why you in care for

[@karendegenerous8044]

Painting over the graffiti was an ideal 'punishment', a slap on the wrist from the police does nothing for youngsters like this, they don't get disciplined, they're not given guidance on how to behave correctly.

[@Nobynoby2763]

hes handsome

[@adamcopeland4986]

This is fake I've been in a care home for 4 years and it ain't nothing like this

[@stephanieclarke464]

it aint fake

[@adamcopeland4986]

It is ive seen people hanging_ sliting there wrists _rape_ restraing_ fights the list goes on

[@willywonka8770]

+Adam Copeland This is a UK care home it's nicer in UK care homes

[@Blaze00095]

UK

[@footybones1253]

Hi

[@eustacia7425]

hey

[@rachelgarwood5809]

ph

[@amyheeley6232]

hi

[@christinaanderson642]

Hi.

[@kamranghafoor3736]

FAKE!!!

[@jamievalentine3976]

No it's attaly real

[@rihannaehamparam9425]

This is a house in UK and it’s a much nicer house than any other care homes!!!!!!!!!

[@estherkariuki1642]

I cannot believe what he has gone through .I tried doing bad things but not that .God be with u kid

[@frederickmartinez3280]

I need to go there

[@jamievalentine3976]

You only get sent away it you been in trouble or if your parents have had enough with you and your behaviour and that they will just sent away to a care home