Free Loaves On Fridays: Care leaver to edit anthology of experiences from care community

The book, Free Loaves on Fridays, will contain essays by people with experience of the care system, as well as other creative pieces of writing submitted following an open call for submissions.

Free Loaves on Fridays, which will be published by Unbound, a crowd-funded publisher, with proceeds going to children’s rights charity Article 39 and the Together Trust.

Pierre, who has written for publications like The Guardian and The Independent, tells CYP Now why the project is so important for those with care-experience:

What is behind the name of the book Free Loaves On Fridays?

When I lived in the unregulated placement, every Friday we’d get a free loaf from the local bread factory and it was a real highlight of the week, a lot of time I was living in poverty and was living off free school meals.

But, while I was grateful for it, there was a part of me that realised it was just the same bog-standard, thick white-sliced loaf every week. Noone ever gave you a choice and it felt like we were given the leftovers rather than something that really gives you joy or that you would choose. That whole story reminds me that care-experienced people are never given a choice and using it as the name of the book reclaims that and gives people a choice about how their stories are told.

Why is it so important to ensure all care-experienced people are heard?

Care-experienced people receive an awful lot of stigma due to stereotypes and outdated information - but the problem is, there is virtually no way of challenging this, because we face systemic disadvantage which makes us less likely to end up in positions of power or influence. Not only are we significantly less likely to make it to university, but we’re also more likely to end up homeless, in the criminal justice system, or with poor long-term health outcomes. All of this combined means that our community is much less likely to make it into to media or political careers to control the narrative about us, as our voices are seldom in these circles. 

What’s more, after the review of children’s social care, I believe it is time we had our say. Much is written about us, but not necessarily with us in the political sphere and beyond, and this is our opportunity to say what matters to us from the grassroots up. 

I personally didn’t disclose that I was care-experienced until I was in my mid-20’s. The stigma I faced was so strong that it just didn’t seem worth it. I hope that this book can make care-experienced people feel truly represented, heard, and proud of who they are.

How has your experience inspired the book?

I was one of those children who went under the radar for many years and ended up in care far later than I should have at the age of 16. I was homeless and sofa-surfing when I first went into care then I had a series of foster placement breakdowns before going into an unregulated placement, in a hostel with adult men who had just left prison. It was a really scary time - I was offered drugs within three minutes of entering the hostel. It was no environment for a child.

My coping mechanism was withdrawing into myself by self-harming and keeping a diary - extracts of which I published online last year. Writing was the only positive coping mechanism I had. It gave me some control over my own narrative and I learnt the value of words.

I was on the verge of leaving school and my English teacher said ‘Bekah, your words have value’ and that simple sentence was the first time anyone had believed in my writing and listening to what I had to say. I think if I was that age now, and someone had said ‘do you want to be an author? Your words matter’, it would have been really transformative. It would also give me something positive to put on my CV or UCAS form, something which many care-experienced people lack due to no fault of their own.

I want to get care-experienced to learn the value of their words.

People in care are only asked to share their stories on surveys and feedback forms, we want to share their stories on a proper platform.

How will the book be structured?

There’ll be an A-Z of Allyship section written by care-experienced children and young people, 15 essays from care-experienced people and then there will be no limit on shorter submissions like poems, letters and reflections that people provide. I wanted to give people the last word, we are so often written about rather than with. 

I know the power that having the last word can have - I recently got my case file from when I was in care and I found it really shocking and disrespectful. My way of processing that was writing an open letter to my social worker which felt like a real moment of closure. It was cathartic and helped me to heal,  and I really want to give other people that final say.

What are the next steps? 

Once the book has been crowdfunded, we will put out a fully inclusive open call for submissions. Care-experienced/affected people of all ages and diverse backgrounds will be encouraged to apply - including, but especially those who would never dream of calling themselves a writer. No one will be rejected from the book - there’s been too much rejection in our community as it is. A care-experienced panel will decide which ideas will be best in which format (e.g, a longer essay, a poem or short reflection).  More information will follow once we get to that stage. 

For more information or to pledge to the Free Loaves On Fridays campaign visit https://unbound.com/books/free-loaves-on-fridays/