This is our life: invite for care-experienced people to tell their stories their way
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 7 December, 2022
People who have been or are currently in the care system are invited to share their experiences for a new anthology.
Free Loaves on Fridays aims to give voice to care-experienced people and let them tell their stories the way they want to tell them.
Editor Rebekah Pierre, a BASW England professional officer who was herself in care, hopes the book will help increase public understanding.
“No two paths through care are the same – in this anthology, experiences include foster care, adoption, kinship care, and semi-independent living amongst others,” she said.
“In the wake of the independent review of children’s social care in England – dubbed a once in a lifetime opportunity – the time for care experience push back is now. It is our voices – not pen-pushers who write policies from the comfort of their Ivory Tower – that ought to be heard.”
Submissions are welcome from all age groups of people who have either been in care or are currently in care. Previous writing experience is not required.
The title of the book derives from when Rebekah was living in a hostel as a teenager and along with other residents would receive free loaves of bread on a Friday from a local bread maker.
“It was always thick-sliced white – plain, simple and loaded with cholesterol. Not that I’m complaining, of course. Because as someone who was quite literally living on the breadline, that loaf was like gold dust in times where hunger was a close companion.
“But the thing is, we didn’t get a choice. Instead, like ducks in a pond, we were given whatever was left.”
The care system has a terrible reputation, adds Rebekah, with those who have been through it often “viewed as objects of pity, or as troubled individuals, with no room for nuance”.
By publishing Free Loaves on a Friday Rebekah says she wants to show that “there is a spectrum of joy and sadness, of laughter and tears, and light and shade in our lives”.
The deadline for submissions is 15 January. To find out more and how to contribute click here