Crime Monthly

CARE HOME CRIME CRISIS

AUTHOR CHRIS WILD ON HOW THE CURRENT CARE SYSTEM ALLOWS ORGANISED GANGS TO DRAW VULNERABLE CHILDREN INTO A LIFE OF CRIME

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Welcome to the July issue of Crime Monthly. This month, we detail how Caroline Crouch’s killer husband covered up her death, look at the secret life of murdered mum Paige Birgfield, and investigat­e the discovery of a serial killer in Mexico. We also report on the potential revenge homicide of a mother and son, and one woman tells us how she escaped sex cult Children of God. Plus, our Crime Screen section will fill you in on all the shows, books and pods you need to know about. Keep your feedback coming to Crimemonth­ly @ bauermedia.co.uk. See you next month.

Underfunde­d homes and neglected young adults – for campaigner Chris Wild, the UK care system is one he knows all too well. The former boxer was put into care when he was just 11, and he suffered abuse at the hands of those who were meant to protect him. Twenty years later, Chris went back to the care sector as a staff member, and he is now calling for urgent reform.

Chris, from north London, tells us, “The paradox of a children’s home is that it is supposed to keep you safe, but you are surrounded by danger. To avoid this, kids are running away and being recruited by criminal gangs, never to be seen again. Our broken care system leads children to a life of crime – it’s a vicious cycle they can’t escape. Government cuts and unregulate­d homes are allowing us to fail our young people on a daily basis. Something needs to change.”

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

In April 1991, Chris’ dad died, and he was taken into care in Halifax. He says, “My dad grew up in the care system, and when I asked him about it, he said, ‘It’s a place you’ll never have to experience’. But after we suddenly lost him, life had a different plan. His foster brother crept into my mother’s life, moving into our home and casting a shadow over us. He was abusive

‘I TURNED TO THE STREETS, BUT THINGS GOT OUT OF CONTROL’

to Mum, then to me and my sister. I turned to the streets to escape, but things escalated out of control. After 12 months and six arrests, they were looking at sending me to a detention centre, but social workers intervened and I was sent into the care of the local authority. That all happened within a year of my dad dying.”

After his tough experience­s, Chris thought he’d been entering a homely environmen­t, but his fantasy was soon shattered. He says, “When I first walked into my new home, I’d never felt so excited. But 48 hours later, the façade disappeare­d. On the third day, I was making toast, and the housemaste­r said, ‘Make sure you put butter in the corner’. My response was, ‘Why should I?’ I suddenly felt a blow to my head. I didn’t know how to respond, I was shocked. I thought I was in a place where the staff were going to be caring. But I was wrong.

“As time went on, children being hit became normal and I was almost desensitis­ed to it. The staff ruled us with an iron fist. I was hit so hard for running, I had ringing in my ear for nearly three weeks. Even at 41, I can’t eradicate that from my memory.”

By the time Chris reached his teens, he was living on the streets. He says, “I kept running away, and the police stopped looking for me as it was happening every other day. Instead, I latched onto gang members and criminals. They became my new family, and I was left to run riot. I had an addiction to drugs and alcohol, but the highs of my criminal activity soon wore off. My grandparen­ts intervened to help me and, thankfully, I was able to shake off my past. But I’m one of the lucky ones, whose stories are few and far between.”

FORCE FOR GOOD

Determined to help make a change, Chris studied for an NVQ in social care, and started working in children’s homes as a youth worker. He says, “It was only then that I realised how complex the system was. If you end up in care between the ages of ten and 16, you’ll either be fostered or placed in a children’s home run by the local council and regulated by Ofsted. But after 16, the support ends. Most young people leave or go into

‘TEENAGERS ARE AT RISK FROM GANGS AND PREDATORS’

semi-independen­t accommodat­ion. These are predominan­tly privately run and unregulate­d. This is where many kids are recruited by gangs or turn to county lines drug dealing.

“I remember vividly on my first day in a children’s care home, after my shift ended, I left work and cried. No one engaged with the young people, and they were left to their own devices. I’d watch as they’d eat dry cereal because there was no milk, and cut the mould off bread. The children were being treated like secondclas­s citizens. I couldn’t take it. I was warned that if I spoke out, the hierarchy would get rid of me. So, I stuck out the job for three months and then left.” By 2017, Chris started working in privately run houses for boys over 16. He says, “After leaving a children’s home or foster family at 16, the law deems them old enough to fend for themselves, and to only require support, rather than regulated care services. Despite the fact that young people from ‘normal’ background­s are considered children until 18, the 16 and 17 year olds in our homes aren’t viewed in the same light.

They come from places of trauma, and have behavioura­l needs and mental health issues, yet they are considered too old to receive the specialist support children’s homes provide. When most of their peers are studying for GCSES, going on first dates and sneaking off to drink, kids leaving children’s homes are having the only security they’ve known for most of their lives pulled from underneath them. Teenagers are being increasing­ly put at risk of gangs and predators, due to overstretc­hed councils with insufficie­nt options in the area. It means thousands of care leavers end up in private homes, where it is harder to properly safeguard.”

REFORMS NEEDED

Earlier this year, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced a ban on placing vulnerable children under

16 in unregulate­d accommodat­ion. It will come into effect in September, as part of a series of reforms to drive up standards in children’s social care. But this is only the start of a long list of reforms that need to be made.

During the pandemic, vulnerable kids were being recruited by organised criminal gangs because reduced staff made it easier for gangs to interact with kids directly. Chris says, “Throughout lockdown, so many young people went missing. They were easy pickings for gangs. Social workers were working from home, and staff members weren’t turning up to work due to COVID.

And with two weeks of self-isolation, employees were few and far between. These young people were getting groomed into county lines and organised crime gangs. Who knows where some of these young people are now? I know many of them won’t be seen in care again.

“In April 2020, I was working in a few care homes, and we found several young people had gone missing. We contacted the Thames Reach Project – a charity helping homeless and vulnerable people to find decent homes – and discovered many children had put themselves into hotels when lockdown started. As they were open for the homeless, they’d be given a hot meal and warm bed to sleep in. Tragically, from the hotels, kids were going missing because they were in an environmen­t where their vulnerabil­ity was seen as an asset. Criminal gang members were entering these facilities and recruiting them. What’s even more shocking is that they were getting away with it.”

Chris says more opportunit­ies and an independen­t regulator dedicated strictly to the care industry are just two of the urgent reforms the care sector needs. He says, “Vulnerable young people in the care sector are everyone’s responsibi­lity. First and foremost, we need to regulate semi-independen­t care. Ofsted don’t have the manpower or the time, so there needs to be an independen­t regulator that is focused solely on care. That’s the only way we can manage and maintain quality standards in the care sector. Children in care are still children. We have a massive problem happening in the UK that is being ignored. So many individual­s are forced into a life of crime and are being forgotten about. We have got to prioritise these young people and change the stigma that kids in care are damaged and do not need saving.

“It’s not fair that children aged 18 are forced to leave the care sector without any opportunit­ies, and are forced to find somewhere to live and get dead-end jobs to pay for the cost of living. There are no opportunit­ies anywhere. I’ve worked alongside them, and some are geniuses. They could go to Oxford University or build their own business – but the opportunit­ies are not there.

I’m working with the London Ambulance Service to try to get work experience for young adults, but we need investment from central government. There also needs to be accountabi­lity from local authoritie­s that allow children to go to these dangerous private houses that are unregulate­d – they should receive fines, so it stops becoming a recurring problem.” He adds, “It is 30 years since my own journey in the care system began. Three whole decades since my dad passed away. Every day, I tell my story to the young people I work with in the hope they can take something positive from it. Nobody wants to be brought up through the care system, but many will be. In the aftermath of the pandemic –with all the rising poverty, and the increased prevalence of mental health issues – the numbers are more likely to grow than reduce.

“We cannot stop people ending up in the system, but we can create a better system for them to be in.”

‘WE NEED TO CREATE A BETTER SYSTEM FOR THEM TO GROW UP IN’

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 ??  ?? Chris wants to see a change happen soon
Chris wants to see a change happen soon
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 ??  ?? Children are
drawn into drug dealing
Children are drawn into drug dealing
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 ??  ?? Youngsters are ruthlessly
exploited
Youngsters are ruthlessly exploited
 ??  ?? The State Of It by Chris Wild (£16.99, John Blake) is out now
The State Of It by Chris Wild (£16.99, John Blake) is out now

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