Transitions

During our lives we go through a lot of transitions. Transitions are changes in our lives that move us from one stage to another, being single to being married, unemployed to working, living on own for the first time. Transitions are an important part of our lives and essential to growing up, and the most important ones come when we are children, coming home from hospital, starting school, moving to secondary school. These transitions help us to grow and maintain attachment relationships. Transitions can change who we are, like divorce, separation having a sibling, or a step-parent. Ordinarily transitions although may seem difficult and scary, they can be easy with the love and support from a well-adjusted family. But what happens when a transition becomes out of the normal? For looked after children this can be traumatic and damaging as we go from everything we know and even though it is obviously not a healthy, nurturing situation it is all we know, to us it is normal. Moving into care, is to say the least a traumatic transition, we do not know where we are going, who the people are who we will be living with, we may have to move schools, will we see our birth family again, what will the house be like where we will be living, we may not even like the family we are going to be living with. So, what can help us with this life changing transition? Talk positively about the change, involve us in what will be happening to us and what support we would like, younger children can draw pictures on how they would like their lives to be lived. Talk openly about what is happening, help and encourage us to make a book about our life, past and present. Talk about all the exciting new adventures that will be taking place.

After our childhood transitions for us looked after children have to think about what will happen when we become 18. Statistics show us that one in five looked after children are homeless at the age of 18, 70% of female looked after children become pregnant before their 21 st birthday, 1 in 7 looked after children receive a custodial sentence and only 13% go on to higher education compared to 43% of all other young people. We need to change these statistics, which my next blog will be about.

The Nameless Onion.