There are somethings you just have to read and accept, even though you would prefer them not to be true. Danielle McKinney's account, in the Birmingham Mail, of her experiences in care is one such.
She tells how
she was sent to thirty nine different placements and raped three times before she reached the
age of 16. It is chilling, it is disgraceful, it should never happen. But it did ...
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/sent-39-different-homes-raped-9639374
Danielle's story forms the basis of a TV documentary tonight (13th July) - A Dangerous Place To Be A Kid? BBC One at 10.35pm. Everybody who works to safeguard and protect children and young people should watch it.
One of the conclusions I draw from reading Danielle's account is that we should all be much more attuned to what children and young people who have been in care or who have received children's services tell us. If we really want to improve the quality of services - rather than simply trying to please inspectors or hit government targets - we need to listen attentively to what the consumers of services have to say. What they say is the true measure of quality. If we continue to ignore it services will never improve.
