Social Claire

Susan Boyle.   Great voice, mad hype.   I watched her on youtube and got a tear in my eye, this clumsy gauche woman who knocked them all backwards when she opened her mouth to sing.    World goes mad, Demi Moore, Kofi Annan, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama - all wanting to be part of the phenomena.  

Semi final she falters, then apparently loses it a bit, someone heard her swear.  Hardly the behavior of an angel, hairy or otherwise.   Then it transpires that she has a learning difficulty.   Don't remember anyone mentioning that re possible sources of support once she was flung into the media stratosphere that is also a bear pit to most ordinary folk, learning difficulty or not.

I was reading posts on facebook on Saturday night (sad but true) where she had suddenly gained the moniker SuBo and people who I count as real friends as opposed to facebook ones were gunning for her.   And she lost.   And apparently she lost it as well.  

And now she's in hospital.

What the hell are we playing at?   Little girls sobbing on live television at having 'failed', adults with learning difficulties being paraded in a state of anxiety and befuddlement - both in their way like Elephant Man freak shows.

Size 0, Peter and Jordan, Susan Boyle - the redtops have become obsessed with this media hype that can influence a nation to idolise a person or dream on one day and send them flying face down back to the cold floor the next.

I am so angry about the exploitation that has accompanied this 'talent show' not just for Susan Boyle but for other vulnerable people.    What happens to them now?   Who helps them get over this?

I just hope that Susan Boyle's dream doesn't become a nightmare.

When I first saw the headline 'Councils embrace risky play' I thought it was an article about some dodgy drama or an over reaction to a production about racism or homophobia!   But no, I got it wrong again, stuck in the 'Gay Sweatshop Theatre Production loses Arts Centre it's funding' headline of yesteryear.

The article was about adventurous play and how the government thinks we have wrapped children in cotton wool in the drive to reduce risk.   I worked on a 'venny' playground many years ago.  Children made structures out of old wooden palates, built forts and structures (which were later taken down by spoilsports due to being used as illicit dens used by older kids for sex and smoking) and learned about working together, risk, using nails and hammers and creating their own spaces.

Then came the worryworts and the playground was razed to the ground.   In the place of the wild and wacky towers we instead had manufactured bar frames, swings, tyre circuits and an extremely feeble 'ariel runway'.   The kids hated it and trashed the place.   Gone was the sense of ownership, the play facility that THEY had designed and made themselves, destroyed in the drive to end any form of 'compensation culture.'

How great then that we are seeing a resurgence of risk and play - so badly needed in an era where safeguarding has us pinning everything down to the point that kids can barely breathe.   Keeping children safe is one thing, but we mustn't suffocate our kids sense of imagination and adventure - we can still do it in vennys whilst still allowing them to build castles in the sky.

Well, knock me sideways - today's headlines are shouting about an 'influential group of MP's' cry that we need to improve the care system - do you know what folks?   I didn't know that!!

The DCSF committee that compiled this new report assert that national government and local authorities need to become more of a 'pushy parent' for children in care, and demand better outcomes when it comes to health, criminal justice and asylum.   

Does this then mean that corporate parenting committees go beyond turning up for coffee and biscuits once a quarter and muttering about 'why the big fuss about children in care?'   Before you start having a go, I know that this is not the common view of corporate parents, but one member on a committee I used to be involved in actually made that statement!   And as a corporate parenting group, their performance was woeful.

Sorry to rant, but I guess I just get frustrated and tired that after working with children in care for so many years, making sure that their views on care were heard by those same corporate parents and others, that a group of big wigs start stating the obvious, and we're all expected to jump!

 You ask any child in care about time spent with social workers being important, the choice of carers, the feeling of belonging and they will tell you the same thing, from one end of the country to the other.   Yet so far no one has taken any real notice.   Not enough social workers, not enough carers, not enough budget, not enough time - not enough care actually.

And yes, some will go on to become involved with sexual exploitation, youth justice system and other poor outcomes - and having worked with both boys and girls in these situations, the same thread runs through - the need to belong, to feel cared for, to be part of something.   One boy I used to work with who was sexually exploited once told me 'I know you think it's wrong, but I've never felt so wanted in my life.'   Sad, sad outcome.

Maybe I'm being a cynic and this new report will make a difference.   But it just bugs me that it takes a group of 'influential MP's to spell out what we all have known for years and scrabbled around like toothless tigers to try and change.   It will take more than a new report to change outcomes for children in care - actions after all speak louder than words.

Well blow me, whaddaya know?   ContactPoint has been 'temporarily suspended' due to security problems - no s*** Sherlock!!   The problem apparently is to do with flaws in the 'shielding' system that prohibits others seeing confidential information.

This is exactly the issue that children and young people I have worked with raised when we were consulting about ContactPoint, and I don't mind telling you that I was shouted down by management as some kind of loony radical when raising concerns about the security thresholds on ContactPoint.  

One lad said 'I don't want teachers finding out what has been happening to me in the children's home, who I've been fighting with or whether I've been to your service either - these things are meant to be confidential and anyone could end up reading about me without my choice.'

Another girl said 'What if someone who knows my dad gets to read about me and he finds out where I am?'   Scary stuff for a fourteen year old.

Some of us have long argued that ContactPoint, whilst having good intentions, compromises children's right to confidentiality and compromises some of the services that offer confidentiality too.   It has been argued that safeguarding is more important than confidentiality but as those working in the field will know, encouraging the more vulnerable young people to use services is a task in itself.  

We always explained our confidentiality policies and procedures which most youngsters understood, but at least the information stayed within the organisation.

Someone from the DCSF has 'promised' that no child's records will be uploaded onto ContactPoint until the security issues are resolved.   I'm glad to hear it, but want more than a promise, thanks.

I'm glad that the flaws have been discovered now, and not after the whole system goes live.  I am also really interested to find out more about the report that claims that ContactPoint is illegal under human rights and data protection law.

It's what we were saying two years ago, and were told we were being ridiculous.   In the need to ensure that children's safety is paramount it feels to me that we are somehow missing the point about ContactPoint.   Is it really going to be watertight and as secure as we are being promised?   Or might it actually compromise children?   What do others think?

You could not make it up.   My world has always been about working with children and families to help them to understand difference, fighting the corner of those who are more marginalised or discriminated against and hoping for a better, more tolerant and more inclusive future for all our kids.

I am therefore in a bit of a tizz (again) after reading that parents have been complaining about Cerrie Burnell, who was born with one arm and presents Cbeebies 'Do and Discover' slot because, by virtue of her disability she is frightening their children.

Nine people have apparently complained, including one who wrote 'Is it just me or does anyone else think that the new woman on Cbeebies may scare the kids because of her disability.....it would have played on my daughters mind and possibly caused sleep problems...'

Children tend not to notice differences in a negative way unless they are taught to do so.   Cerrie Burnell is a successful actor and is very popular with lots of audiences.

How sad and frankly disgusting that this woman is being judged not on her presenting skills but for being disabled.   She is disappointed with the criticism (how can you criticise someone who is disabled for being disabled?) but is proud to be a role model for children, and good on her.

Keeping the kids awake at night?  I can think of far better examples of television and media rubbish that would do this than a woman with one arm.

People's prejudices kill me sometimes.   Just when you think we're moving forward, out come the bigots to remind us how far we have still to go in some quarters.  

It's sad really.   Because with parents like these what hope have we got for accepting that everyone is different?

Unless I'd been hiding out under a stone for the last few weeks I couldn't have failed to be bombarded daily by the Jade Goody story.   It has bemused me beyond belief, made me angry, made me cynical and to be honest, a little bit incredulous about the 'right in your face' way that the PR machine has been orchestrated.   What will Max Clifford do once it is all over?

But whatever my thoughts are about the whole thing, I don't want to write about that.   I don't want to write about sudden righteous red top campaigns for young women to get checked out for cervical cancer - the same rags that rage on about the fall of the moral empire, liberal leftie loonies teaching our kids to 'do  it' - I'll save that for another day.   You know me.....!

Something else has hit me between the eyes.   And that is about the speed at how this disease has progressed, to the point now that it is robbing a young woman of her life.

Smear tests have always had something of a chore or even a titter to them - yawn, yeah ok, if I must.   Cervical cancer?  Get it checked out, if anything unusual, it is ok and treatable.  

I don't know about any of the factors leading to Jade becoming ill, and they are hardly the point.   But one thing bothers me.   How many women in the UK have ever had genital warts?   Did you know that up to 80% of sexually active people will have them at some point in their lives.

I remember taking a young woman to a clinic only for the well meaning nurse to tell her 'Don't worry love, it's just like having a wart on your finger - nothing to worry about.'  

And yet for a significant number of women, genital warts, or HPV (human papilloma virus) can have a direct link with changes to the cervix, including the development of abnormal cells.   Hardly like a wart on your finger, eh?

I know, I've had them, and need to get checked out every year, still moaning and groaning and awaiting the anticipated normal result like it doesn't matter.   I won't be so blase in future.

For me the whole issue is more to do with the fact that this disease, if not picked up early, can potentially kill people, including young people, in a short space of time.   Even at my old age, that hadn't quite clicked.   No mention before of it spreading to other organs.   I had always thought of it as being a localised condition.

So there we are, a lesson learned.   It's a shame that it took the suffering of a reality TV star to help me make the connection.   We need to encourage our young people to look after themselves, to try and prevent STI's and to give them really good information about HPV - warts and all.   They are anything but a cosmetic infection.   For more info check out a really good website www.tellher.ie

I sit here on my own, minus the red roses, champagne and sweet nothings (aawww, poor me -  I swear it's only a commercial con anyway - sob!) contemplating on the latest media frenzy, which is anything but anything to do with love and romance.  

I talk of course of the lad who has just become a father at the age of 13, resulting in the red tops having a field day and it becoming a party political issue with phrases like 'Broken Britain' being bandied about by the grey and the not so good.

Even my mum, who is normally quite laid back about such matters (having seven grandchildren by one offspring, plus being made a great-granny by one of said seven) has been ranting on about it.   'He's such a little chap' she muses - 'What's it all coming to?'

Well, I don't know the circumstances behind this very young couple becoming parents at such an early age.   But I'll tell you something - it's nothing new.   I am in my mid 40's and remember at the age of 10 being mesmerised by a front page article in a national newspaper talking about a girl becoming a mum at 12.  I didn't know how babies were made, and was waxing on about how happy I was for her and wondering why the adults were looking uncomfortable.  

It caused no less an outcry at the time, with accusations of the moral fibre of the country all going to hell in a handcart.   This was 35 years ago - what has changed?

Well a couple of things spring to mind.   Sex and relationships education for one thing.   All these years later and we've only just got it made compulsory on the curriculum.   How much did this couple know about the likelihood of pregnancy?   Contraception?  Where to get help and advice when they needed it?   How the law works in relation to under sixteens and confidentiality?   Not a lot by the sounds of it.   And if they did they were probably too scared to ask, like most teenagers.

We think we've come so far when it comes to teenagers 'knowing better than we did' - but the truth is that most adults still don't have the right info never mind kids!

Aspiration is another.   And I'm not just talking about education and jobs, I'm talking about aspiring towards a good, healthy, respectful and loving relationship.   Was that in the equation for these two young people?   Who knows, and nobody seems to care to be honest - a salient point conveniently missed.

It's given the anti-teenage pregnancy strategy harpies an excuse to winge on about how sex education teaches our children to 'do it' - well, obviously not in this case as if good sex and relationships education had taken place it possibly wouldn't have happened.  

Good SRE allows youngsters to consider a mix of knowledge and skills alongside an opportunity to consider their own attitudes and values to relationships, and indeed to delay first intercourse.   Not the case for this young couple.

Yet again, sex and teenage pregnancy has been vilified as a problem in our society - the same society that sells our children and young people a constant diet of sexual imagery through magazines, television, music and fashion - it's always the same - 'look, but don't do it'.   The hypocracy here is appalling.

I hope that these two young people and their baby will be ok.   I also hope that their situation is not used as a stick to batter those of us who have been advocating for good, effective and appropriate SRE in schools for years. 

We're in 2009 not 1973, the year when the twelve year old girl I mentioned became a mum.   What has changed I wonder?

On this night of romance, I can only hope that this little family will be okay amidst the sneering and jeering and writing them off as no good, and I hope that the hearts and flowers are theirs too in the long run, whatever happens.

I left home this morning and fairly skipped down the road to catch the train to work - another weekend beckoning, and a nice bottle chilling in the fridge.   Little did I know that it wouldn't be the only thing chilling!

As my journey progressed I realised to my horror that there was an increasing dust of snow, leading to a good inch in places and by the time I got into town there was about four inches of it, all grimey and worst of all, treacherous to walk in.   I'm a bit of an old heifer at the best of times and hate the idea of slipping - I crashed down on my spine several years ago in the snow and have never forgotten the pain!

A walk that would normally take five minutes took a good twenty as I tippytoed through the mire.   I had a meeting on the other side of town and caught a bus to get myself there - I would just about make it.   Then the phone rang to say that the guy who I was meant to be seeing had had a car accident on the way to work - he was ok, but his car wasn't and he had gone home.   I got off the bus, perished for another twenty minutes and finally made my way into work.

Why bother?   The place was almost deserted!   Colleagues had become stranded, snowed in or had just decided to stay at home and work - the joys of laptop working.   It wasn't just us though - the world has come to a standstill.   Schools and colleges are closed, medical clinics cancelled, even motorways shut.

One thing did make me smile today though.   As I ran to do my shopping I heard a little voice cry 'Hello Claire, come and see what I've made.'   It was a colleagues little daughter, and she led me outside to inspect her treasure.   

To my delight she had made a little snowball (well, it was more of a snow pie really) and was proudly cradling it in her hands.   'I've never had one of these before' she beamed, before lovingly laying it back into its shelf under the rubbish bin.

I was ranting on yesterday about children, Ipods and consumerism, but it did my heart glad to see a little girl take so much pleasure in something as simple as the snow.   Maybe we need more of it.   And it's good amidst the hysteria and hype of reports to remember that our children can still take pleasure in the simple things in life - they just need us to remind them that they are there.

 Keep warm folks!

There's been a lot of noise this week about the Children's Society 'Good Childhood' report on the current state of children in the UK.   Working mums have come in for it yet again, along with the media, consumerism and too much emphasis on individuality.

Funny how it's always working mums that come in for it, even to the extent that the otherwise somehow occasionally savvy Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a statement backing up the call for mums to stay at home.  As a woman in work whose partner looks after the kids during the day while she works said to me today  'Each family is different - my husband looks after our kids during the day and it works out really well, but us women always end up getting painted like the problem.'

We blame consumerism for children's unhappiness and yet are happy to allow huge multiglobal companies to sell, sell, sell right in their faces - as one girl in the report quoted 'If you haven't got the right Ipod you don't fit in' - I used to talk about trainers being a status symbol but we've obviously moved on again.    Size zero bodies are sold in every magazine, and woe betide anyone who comes in at a 'curvy size 12' - that makes me gigantic at at a healthy 16!!   Why as an adult society are we not saying 'no' to this distortion of people, and the disastrous effect it can have on our youngsters?

The individuality bit has come up twice this week in research.  It reminds me of a postcard I used to have during the Thatcher years called 'Fans of the Me Decade' depicting someone in a t shirt which said 'I am a worthwhile person' bemoaning the fact that he had to share something with others.

Personally, I think that building individuality and autonomy helps children to become healthy and happy adults, secure in themselves - but only if they have safe networks to help them to get there.  

This is where our roles as workers or trusted adults comes in - if young people are to grow into secure and grounded adults they need to be able to take risks, discover themselves and grow safely. 

This is best achieved with the knowledge that there is a safety net, and also with the knowledge of strong bonds, both at home and in the community, and with that trusted adult that could be you in your job.   I believe that we should never ever underestimate our potential role and impact on the children and young people's lives that we touch - they may just remember in years to come that someone was there for them.

Kids, eh?   They've never had it so good?  I don't think so.

Did any of you catch the programme on telly about the recent research into the extent that primary school aged children who are displaying violent and disruptive behaviour to the extent that it was affecting both teachers and pupils alike?   It made for some of the most depressing viewing I have seen in a long time.

 These were particularly young nippers, who through their aggression or inability to concentrate, were being excluded from lessons and in some cases mildly restrained by staff who were struggling to support whole classes to learn, whilst trying to support the individual children who were kicking off.

The film followed the efforts of five primary schools trying innovative methods to try and regain a calm teaching environment, using a non punitive approach..   Using a whole school approach, they involved parents, a wide range of staff and individual target setting, and subsequent rewarding for children.   What was most interesting was the development of highly effective 'nurture groups' to help children deal with their issues and get back on track, whilst allowing the rest of the class to continue with their work.

This didn't mean that the children were separated from their classmates for the whole day or week - it just allowed some time out for the children to receive the kind of attention that they needed to deal with school, and to eventually reintegrate full time into their classrooms.

Having worked with childen in care, I have seen similar behaviours to those of the children who took part in the film.  And the influences that lead them to behave like this, or to enter care are often the same.  

In the nurture class,.one little boy acted out being drunk and the realistic way that he crashed around the furniture was not exaggerated.   Another battered lumps out of toys, or used them to wallop other children.   One girl who was particularly aggressive, had experienced abuse.   In all cases the schools worked with parents to help them to deal with their issues and help them understand how much they affected their children.  

In one particularly moving moment, both child and mother (who was battling alcohol issues) were given certificates for making progress, and to see the tears run down the woman's face was heartbreaking - it was so obvious that she hadn't been rewarded for anything in a long, long time.

So why depressing?   Because apart from the obvious suffering that the families had experienced, and subsequent results, the reality was that most of the schools featured could not guarantee that they would be funded to continue beyond the end of the financial year.   For most the nurture class was seen as a luxury, as an add on instead of a vital lifeline to these children and their families.

We see all too often what happens to children who have suffered in their formative years being played out for the rest of their lives.   Care, homelessness, crime, drug abuse, exploitation - the list goes on.  

All children need nurturing but where it isn't happening at home it is essential that for this minority of children that they get it when they need it, and as early as possible.  

Otherwise in the long run, the price that they individually, and we as a society will pay will be far more than the cost of a nurture class. 

It's taken me longer than usual to get into Festive Claire mode, what with moving, job and general mid life crisis stress but I think that Christmas has finally arrived.   And it's all thanks to a little girl on a railway platform.

I've been sneering at shoppers laden with presents and shopping lists, working out what to have with their turkey on the big day and have chosen instead to keep my head down and not look further than the end of my nose.   Too tired, too busy, too skint to think about Ho Ho Ho!

And my general bad mood has been set to the grimmest most miserable tunes on my Ipod.   Morrisey rules!   Leonard Cohen kicks ass!   Snow Patrol rock!   All that maudlin music fare is just the thing to assist my 'Bah Humbug!' grumblings.

So imagine my surprise on learning that Leona Lewis had released a version of my Snow Patrol dirgey favourite 'Run' as this year's Christmas anthem.   I caught a trailer for it on the X Factor and decided it was a travesty of a decent miserable song, and that she was doing my 'Songs to Ignore Christmas To' playlist no favours.

Until I was stood waiting for the train home one night last week.   Among the commuters and shoppers was a family with a little girl wearing reindeer antlers and a red nose.   I managed a flicker of a smile as she danced up and down the platform.  Then suddenly she began to loudly sing 'Light up, light up' over and over again, spinning around and waving her arms just like Leona in the video.

And it was like someone had switched my fairy lights on.   I couldn't stop smiling every time I thought of her.  I popped into a shop on the way home and bought a little tree and a Santa hat.   I decided to go shopping the following evening and met some friends in town for a drink.  

And every time I felt my previous mood gnawing at my ankles I remembered this little reindeer girl waving her arms and how magical she had made a song.   It's official -Christmas is finally coming in the Claire household!

The world of work is turned upside down for me at the moment.   I’ve been offered a new job in a new county and have accepted it, albeit subject to not the usual round of CRB checks and references that my new employers will be chasing; but more centred around my own thoughts, feelings and ultimate decisions to make the break.

It’s funny how you can live somewhere for years and not really appreciate the roots that you put down.   I now properly understand the theories around attachment.

The people you meet, the trials and tribulations that you face along the way and the sense of belonging that on one hand feels almost transient in the ever changing face of the world of working with children and young people.    And yet you suddenly realise that you too are part of the fabric that yields and shapes the way that the services develop.  

I feel like I have been here for five minutes, but my cohorts and I have spent fifteen years together and during that time I’ve had seven different jobs!   I’m a great believer in ringing the changes, and more importantly seizing opportunities when they arise.   I’ve worked in sexual health, local democracy, for two national voluntary organisations and a local authority social care department and in all that time there has been one common factor – children and young people in care.   

I remember as a health worker approaching a social care manager to talk about how we could work together.   And the more I learned about children in care, the more passionate I became about the need to highlight the reality of their lives.

And over the years, in various settings I’ve watched our kids grow into adolescents, struggling with the changes and experiencing the same growing pains that we all do.  

Many have extra struggles due to the reasons that they came into care in the first place.   They struggle with attachment as people in their lives come and go, placements break down and workers change and change again.    We’ve tried to hang onto them, albeit with an invisible and sometimes not so invisible safety net to try to keep them from falling. 

We had the Laming report, now we’ve got Every Child Matters, and we’re reminded what happens when the safeguarding isn’t there every time we hear something new about Jersey.  

I heard one prominent Children’s Services Director speak at a conference the other week about how care isn’t as bad as it’s made out, and he’s right in lots of ways, but there is still always room to get it better. 

He needs to meet the local residential unit manager who will barely let me through the front door in case I ask too many questions!  

He needs to meet the service manager that agreed that it was acceptable for a lad to return from school to his foster carer to find his bags packed and his social worker there telling him he was going into a residential unit that same night with no warning.

He needs to meet the young woman who was moved twenty times in three years.   These situations still make me question – does every child really matter?   Are the needs, wishes and feelings of our children being met and their rights upheld?   Or does the needs of the system come first?

I will always believe that we need to take the needs of ALL our children seriously, and act to make sure that they are as fully met as possible.   My new job will still entail doing that, but from a different perspective.  

I’ve been thinking a lot about attachment theories these last few weeks and find myself needing to let go of my life as it has been, my job, my comfort zone and the children I have worked with.  

And do you know what?    I’m really looking forward to the changes.   But it won’t be as easy as I thought.

Hi there folks, how are you all doing?  Hope all is good in your worlds. 

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, running around all over the place training and attending meetings which so often seem to be held for the sake of holding them, rather than actively working towards or demonstrating any real or tangible outcomes for children and young people.   Maybe I just should call them what they are – talking shops?!  

I head counted last week at a seminar I attended – there were forty people there all on middle to senior management salaries.   It must have cost a good couple of thousand pounds for us all to sit there hearing what we had heard before and enjoying a good lunch afterwards.   But hey, it ticked someone’s box.

Talking of which, I recently attended a conference where some young people spoke about their experiences of being looked after.   Unlike previous experiences, this wasn’t just a box ticking exercise – the young people were on after the morning break, and not at the end of the day when everyone was rushing for trains.   Fair play to the organisers.

Now I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I truly believe that adults need training to work with young people, and not always the other way round.   And on this occasion I was proved right yet again.

The youngsters sat at the front of the auditorium among the great and the good, looking nervous about their imminent presentations.   

‘What brings you here then?’ enquired one bouffanted doyen.   ‘Are you doing this as part of your school work?’   

‘No’, replied one the young people, ‘We’re working today.’   The woman hooted loudly.  ‘Oh, you call this work do you?’   The young people looked at her incredulously.   ‘Yes, it IS work – we’re here to give a presentation.’   ‘Oh, bless’ she smiled indulgently, then turned to the person next to her and started another conversation.   The young people looked nonplussed.

When they were introduced, the audience broke into applause.   The woman turned to the person next to her and smirked ‘They may consider this work, but they’ve a lot to learn about the world.’

What she didn’t understand was that the young people had taken part in intensive training on presentation skills and public speaking and that they were part of a properly funded children in care council which, among other tasks enables young people to interview staff, attend meetings and mentor younger children in care.

The young people were fantastic and really spoke from the heart about their experiences of being looked after.   As they left the stage and took their seats again, I could see the woman had been taken aback by their stories, but also by their skills and confidence.   It takes a lot for anyone to get up and speak in front of an audience, especially when most members of that audience have probably never been near a child in some time.

It reminded me that young people are to really feel valued then we have to find ways of working with them that makes them feel like their input and views are taken as seriously as those of a head of service.   That way we could hold our heads up and honestly state that every child does matter.

Achoo!   Excuse me whilst I sneeze.   Just blowing the dust and cobwebs off, as I stir from my silent Miss Faversham statue pose.  

Hello again my darlinks, Social Claire is back in business, wired for sound as Cliff used to say and raring to go.   Since I put my pen down those long nine months ago, I’ve been gestating away and now I’m ready to burst forth once again with the pattering, not of tiny feet, but of my laptop keys as I get ready to set up my new blog.

So here we are on the internet then, and who’d have thought it!   The age of technology finally hits an old croc like me.   I can do a nifty email, and I’m a bit of an E Bay queen but that’s about it.   I’ve dabbled in MySpace but the only people who want to be my only friends are people I’ve never clapped eyes on, and would probably never want to.

The whole concept of blogging is a new one for me, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it and am looking forward to hearing from you too – unlike writing in print, we actually get to talk to each other!

Since Children Now joined forces with Young People Now, I’ve regularly scoped the back page with a mixture of envy, nostalgia and not a little bit of competitiveness, sighing ‘It was never like this in my day; we’d have done it this way, I’d have said…’blah blah.  

Having said that though, I have enjoyed the variety of writers and have been surprised and not a little impressed as to how varied people working with children and young people’s week seems to be.  

The new writers all seem to be senior bods as well, which is a bit intimidating for a ground floor kinda gal like me but hey, we’re all the same at the end of the day.   Aren’t we? 

So what’s been going on in the world of children and young people since I last wrote?   Hey ho, same old.   We’ve had the continued vilification of young people in the press, with all of our kids being portrayed as a nation of feral, fat, boozed up, violent thugs who are either pregnant or on an ASBO by the time they’re fourteen.  

And of course, we know that those stereotypes are exactly that – minority, exaggerated views of young people.  

Strangely enough, I continue to work with children and young people in care and have yet to come across anyone fitting this description. 

So Social Claire is here to put the other side, to celebrate the achievements of so many of the young people I work with, to question, argue and take a wider view and to reflect when it all goes sadly wrong.  

Get in touch, tell me what you think, join the debate.   I’m looking forward to hearing from you.   It’s great to be back.