By the time he was old enough to vote, Richard Ellis had been in two childrens homes, two foster homes and a mental institution. He was alienated from his parents and living in B&B accommodation paid for by the local council. Childrens Express spoke to him about his experiences and discovered how Richard was systematically failed by the system.
| I just went up to this social worker who was working with the family and said I want putting in care. |
Twenty year-old Richard describes himself as the one percent. The one percent who have been brought up in care and come out the other side with their lives intact.
The one percent who haven't ended up in prison, living rough on the streets, or doing drugs in a run down tenement. But, he says, it was only a matter of chance.
Richard has been in and out of care and foster homes since he was 10 years-old and like many other youngsters it was the lesser of two evils.
On the one hand he could stay at home where he was being sexually abused by his uncle and beaten by his mum's boyfriend or on the other he could leave and entrust himself to the care of Sheffield social services.
"I'd had enough," he said. "I just went up to this social worker who was working with the family and said 'I want putting in care, I can't stop at home, I'm getting beat and you've just stood there and done nothing.
She took Richard at his word and he was moved into a children's home in the north of the city. But when his relief at getting away from his abusive family wore off he began to have doubts.
"It wasn't nice. Not nice at all. There was a lot of bullying and the staff couldn't do anything about it. If they grabbed you you'd say something like 'Children's Act blah, blah, blah' - it must have been quite scary for them.
"For a year I was top of the pecking order. I said to myself 'I've been bullied by my mum, my dad, my uncles.' I suppose in care I bullied more."
On one occasion it nearly had fatal consequences. "Near the end of my time there, there was this kid who I was told bad hurt his younger brother and sister. I had a lot of power in the home and when two of the lads turned round and said 'can we beat him up,' I said 'yeah.'
"We took him to a local park and I beat him all over. We made him take his shoes and socks off and push and stop a roundabout with his bare feet. Then I got him on a football field and leathered him up and down it four times. I ended up fracturing his skull.
"The way I was then I was quite happy to let him die. I didn't have one bit of remorse for him."
But if Richard's experiences of care were brutal then his life in one of his two foster homes wasn't much better.
"I was sent to this woman who lived in a big house near Ecclesall Road. She was unbelievable. In the whole house the only room I was allowed in was the kitchen and my own bedroom. I wasn't even allowed in the living room. I had to be in bed by 10.30 and was given no freedom at all."
Richard only stayed a week. Indeed despite supposedly being cared for by professionals through most of his time in care Richard was involved in crime. He was involved in stealing cars and at the age of 16 he appeared in court charged with violent assault. He was moved out the care home he was in at the time and put into B&B accommodation where he drifted between spending time with friends and family.
"I met this girl and we stayed together for about a year but then we split up and she went back home. I ended up smashing up the flat and was sectioned for about three months. I was put in the nut house. My brain was totally frazzled."
Strangely Richard's salvation came through talking to others who were in a similar situation that he had been.
He got involved in the Sheffield Foyer which helps youngsters leaving care with a place to stay and training and education. Not only did he go back to college himself but he also got involved in helping younger children in similar situations.
He said: "There are young ones there now who are exactly like I was and I want to give them the support I never got. They tend to listen to the ones that have been through it."
But he says he's been lucky and could easily have slipped through the net.
"I think having been through the system has made me more determined to get on and be honest. But sadly I think I'm in the one percent."
Richard Ellis is a pseudonym.
About the team
This article was produced by Anna Bradshaw, 15; Nicola Bevan, 13; Fiona Hanson and Shelly Milnes, 12. It was published in the Sheffield Star.
