Writers’ Corner – Your Stories

This is your section of the website to share your poems, stories or experiences about being in care.  Whatever you want to say, we want to listen!

So send your ideas to:

VSK, Kent County Council, Worrall House, 30 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, ME19 4AE or email them to VSK_Participation@kent.gov.uk

Why not also share your thoughts with IMO so young people across the country can read them? Happy, sad, funny, inspiring, they want to hear from you!

This is me

Alisha wrote this powerful poem for the Coram Voices Writing competition. The theme was 'This is Me'.

When I was child
I would sing and dance
Be the loudest child in the room
I was confident and free,
That was me.

Then I was a teenager,
Confused about life,
Thinking it`s me against the world,
The feeling of being unloved
But showing a smile behind my pain,
Having to battle my demons in my head
Without turning insane.
That was me.

I soon became a mum at 19,
Still fighting the anxiety and depression that God had given me,
I would often wallow in self-pity,
Still thinking I am alone, but of course putting on a brave face for my son
I am his mother, i am his best friend,
He is my number 1
. That was me.

Now I am 24
Still fighting the demons but always winning the fight!
I still have my down days, but they will soon pass,
Theres nothing that will break me,
Because I am stronger than I thought,
Loved more then I know,
Confident more than ever,
Because I am a mother, I am a daughter, I am a sister.

I do sing and dance
Be the loudest person in the room
I am confident and free,
This is me.

Heroes

Danny wrote this ‘Recipe for a Foster Carer’ at one the Participation Team’s Focus Groups for young people in care. Thank you Danny for sharing your ideas about what makes a good foster carer!

A Recipe for a Foster Carer

1. A cupful of kindness mixed with joy.
2. A dash of love flavoured with care.
3. A scoop of fun coloured with laughter.
4. A bowl of humour and common sense.
5. A squidgy sponge of a new start.

Stir it all up to get a family.

Matt wrote this poem for the Creative Me competition – a creative writing competition for children in care and care leavers organised by Pearson Publishing. His entry ‘Dear a mother and a father’ won first place in the secondary competition. Well done Matt.

Dear a mother and a father

Love a son, Love a son
Love a son forever
Says the father.
Love a son, Love a son
Love a son forever
Says the mother.

Oh the hypocrisy!
Where would we be without?
Stronger, weaker, dumber, smarter
Stand tall they say. But for how long?
Love a son they say.

It's ours to question a Mother's love,
It's ours to question a Father's love.
They had blunder'd. We had not.
We had done nothing. They everything.
Love a son they say.

No one can judge. No one can criticise.
They can think. But we know
We stand tall and unafraid.
Love a son they say.

We put our trust in friends
For without we stand for nothing.
Greater hath no man
than a man who lay down his life for a friend.
Love a son they say.

Our Carers try to heal our wounds,
But social workers are no mothers.
We will all wish for that moment in time
But we move forward and stand with
Our new family
Love a son they say.

Love a son they scream!
We feel lost. We feel found.
We feel surrounded, all the
While we stand taller
Love a son they whimper.

MATT