To be clear from the start. When looking at your experience from a legal perspective, the therapeutic side does not really come into it. Legal and therapy are too different entities that have too different jobs to do. In blunt terms legal cases can be brutal, and can take a long time to get anywhere if at all. I will discuss my experience below.

When I started to want a sense of justice and did not know what it looked like. I did not know I would need to actively seek out evidence. I did not know anything sexual offenses laws, or people who work in the field. But once I realized that my word without evidence meant my case would not stand a chance. I started to seek evidence, utilizing anything I felt would lead to evidence. I used old pictures to find old old schools, using the emblems on jumpers. I used google maps to find old placements where I was abused. I used online local websites where you can ask public questions to local authorities, and its a formal record. I used these to question who was responsible for abuse of children in the area i grew up. I used them to ask about missing children between dates.

I also put together a formal letter of complaint to the local authority Bristol City Council. It included all images of placements where I experienced harm, that I collected from google. Detailing my abuse, and how I felt they had let me down and failed my care. I asked for a statutory complaint, which got to stage 1, and they found in my favor. What that means is they found that although they did not collect evidence of my abuse, against guidelines. There was enough professionals and placements stating sexual abuse in records throughout a period of 5 years. And records of other children complaining of similar harm, and disclosures by me. Along with failure to follow up disclosures, and failure to follow up suspicions of sexual trauma and harm.

I disclosed three times to those looking after me, at different points while under age 18 years old. I complained to the foster parent, and I complained to my social worker, when aged around 10 year old. I later complained again directly to another social worker, and they still did nothing when aged 16/17 years old. Social care teams removed me from their care aged 18 years old, having sat on my abuse for 5 years. I was living in their care permanently from aged 8 to 18 years old. Before I turned 8 years old, I had lived in their care temporarily on and off.

So the evidence I was left with after going through long processes to seek justice in criminal court. Was no DNA evidence, as it was lost at the time, when no action was taken to investigate. I received an apology from the social care team who failed me. There was an admission that abuse happened, as stated by many professionals who saw abuse related trauma. The statutory report found that they failed in their duty to report to relevant bodies multiple times. They also did not maintain a record of my voice, or follow up the many suspicions of sexual abuse. There was no documentation of what actually happened to me at the time. So although they found evidence of neglect and professional reports of suspected harm, and failures. Because no one ever followed anything up there was no DNA evidence, or statements of my experience as a child. As would be expected. I gave everything to the police in 2020.

Police investigated twice after I complained directly to them in adulthood. In 2011, they did not take my allegations seriously, officers laughed during my interviews, and my case closed. Second time they gave me a choice of making a complaint, or them investigating my case properly. I chose the later. The second investigation was as thorough as it could be so many years later. And again my cases did not make it to court, due to lack of DNA & witness evidence/statements. I got to tell my experience, and the second time it was recorded properly by the police. I still get flash backs of the first interview though, when the police laughed within ear shot. Roared with laughter multiple officers loudly during my whole interview. On the interview tape, I even ask what the police are laughing at.. it was disturbing.

Needless to say with criminal court closed as an option. I moved onto civil court, and other options of recourse. Civil court, involves either paying large sums to a solicitor, or doing a no win no fee agreement, for remedy. It also involves a lower level of evidence to prove guilt to gain remedy. It is not that great of a secondary pathway, but is the only one we have generally in the UK. In the UK we also have CICA, which can be good, and bad depending on whether you use legal teams. If you use legal teams on a no win no fee basis, you pay out large sums, without proper justice.

Social care teams inefficiency to gather and record evidence, affected the outcome of my criminal cases. They decided multiple times not to report my abuse. There was no record of abuse in my files, yet multiple professionals caring for me, had spoken about sexual abuse. I suspected evidence would be removed from my records. So I requested that a list of names records, linked to me were searched too. Had I not done that, nothing would have been found within the statutory investigation. I disclosed directly multiple times, and i was not alone in complaining about the perpetrators. My experience when it comes to evidence, social care teams hold the power, and key. It is easy for them to write in children’s records that put them in a good light, and hide failures. No one is there to question the narrative, and the children are to vulnerable to question it themselves. That is why my voice in childhood was overlooked, ignored and omitted, no one really wanted the truth on record.

In my experience, the legal investigation side of fighting for justice from scratch, within the foster care system. Is zero to one in term of actually getting court justice, and actually heard by a court. Finding evidence to back your experience is hard, with many hindrances along the way. Those responsible do everything in their power to hide their failures. They drag things out, hide, deny and omit, in anyway they can, and refuse to take any legal accountability. Expect a fight. Because fighting for your rights is not just a saying, it actually is a matter of fact. It will not just fall in your lap, because no one will really cares about you, like you do. Create a support system for yourself, trusted people or organizations, and document everything! Set up therapy, ask them to document sessions, so you have a professional paper trail of your experience. Speak out about the injustices you faced in foster care, don’t let systemic failures, and bullying tactics silence you.

How were you treated by the police, and or social care teams. Was your voice heard? Did you get criminal justice? Was your abuse was covered up, by social teams responsible for your care? Feel free to comment.