Lena, 20, turns her life around and wins a Young Achiever award
AT 14, Lena Brown started skipping school, went missing from home and was drinking in parks.
By the age of 15 her parents asked Cardiff social services to take her into care.
She was sent to a foster home and at 16 left school with no qualifications.
The former St Teilo’s Church in Wales High pupil, now 20, came from a supportive family but said she fell in with “the wrong crowd”, probably because she lacked confidence.
By the time she was 15 the situation had become so bad Lena’s desperate parents asked social services to take her into temporary foster care.
Her mother, Teresa Brown, said it was such a bad time she felt it was the only choice to keep her daughter safe.
Lena was so off the rails she regularly went missing from home in Pentwyn, stayed out at night and was drinking and using cannabis.
“It was absolute hell,” said Teresa. “I wanted the best for Lena and could see what was going on and as much as I was trying to stop her I couldn’t. I was having sleepless nights and trying to hold down a full-time job.
“The day it happened I had to go to hospital and her dad signed the papers for her to go into temporary foster care.
“I could see what was happening and wanted some professional people to get involved and give her the guidance she needed.”
Teresa said it was a hard choice, but she felt she had nowhere else to turn. Someone else needed to care for her daughter.
“It was very upsetting. Lena was emotionally immature and didn’t know how to deal with difficult emotions and I think that’s why she went to the dark side. She was drinking most days and there was cannabis. I just wanted her to be safe.
“It was the only decision I could make. It had to be done because I was desperate for help.”
Lena said she didn’t know her parents had planned to have her taken into foster care and was angry and upset at the time.
She still doesn’t really know why her life spiralled so far out of control.
“I got in with the wrong crowd and I was running away. I wasn’t happy.
“I changed schools and there were a few doing alcohol in the parks and I got in with the wrong crowd because I was unhappy.”
She can’t remember much about the day a social worker drove her to her new foster home across Cardiff because “it is a bit of a blur”.
“The first foster place didn’t work but the second one did. I just needed some distance. It is all a blur now. I was taken to the foster home by a social worker. I went through hell. I was at the first foster home two months and the second one for a year.”
She said issues including social media pressure, being shy and making friends may have added to her problems.
“I did feel under pressure. It’s hard to explain why. I was easily influenced. It was about making the wrong choices.
“I had very little confidence in myself when I was in school, and I soon fell into the wrong crowd. I found it easier and easier to skip classes.”
Lena tried college, but when that didn’t work she got a job in a small cafe and moved into a council flat.
Things seemed to be going well, but it wasn’t to be.
“I had longed for independent living for what felt like forever, but my flat was quite far from the cafe, and I was soon unemployed again.
“This made me very anxious, I now had to try and keep hold of the flat without a job and nowhere to turn – I don’t think I’d ever been so stressed before.”
Lena’s life finally got on track after the Job Centre referred her to The Prince’s Trust Cymru and she enrolled on the Get into Customer Services Programme with Dwr Cymru-Welsh Water.
Lena said she joined the programme lacking confidence and struggling with anxiety, but her confidence grew on the programme and she was offered a full-time position after a two-week course.