Troubled families: ‘In my file it says she didn’t want me from birth’

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

The words of a mother of five – threatened with eviction over rent arrears and her children’s anti-social behaviour – underline the fact that the problems associated with many of England’s so-called troubled families stretch back to when the parents were children themselves.

Interviews with 16 of the 120,000 families identified as 'troubled' are contained in a report – released today by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) – which aims to identify common problems in a bid to help turn around their lives.

The Government is pledging money for local authorities – up to £4,000 per eligible family – on a payment-by-results basis if they reduce truancy, youth crime and anti-social behaviour or put parents back into work.

Often, as in the quote pulled out for the headline however, the problems have started way back, often when the parents were children themselves, said Louise Casey – head of the troubled families unit at the DCLG, who interviewed the families.

In her foreword, Casey said: “In many cases their problems began with their own parents and their parents’ parents, in cycles of childhood abuse, violence and care which are then replayed in their own lives.”

In the case of Donna and Jake – who have five children – the problems are stark.

The interview revealed Donna had found it difficult to be strict with her children because of what had happened to her as a child. She remembers that her mother stayed in bed all day, would beat her with a belt and lock her in a room without food and water.

Donna said: “In my file it says she didn’t want me from birth. The school noticed the neglect. I remember being in hospital one time and people taking photos of me. They might have prosecuted her I don’t know. I went to a foster family started acting up, moved…moved lots of times. Then one family the brother and father sexually abused me for two years…think some of my behaviour was down to this. My proper dad noticed something was wrong.”

Jake, she said, was not a real parent as he was a long term drug user – and spent about £70 a week on cannabis.

She said: “It was just me as a parent for sixteen years as he’s been on cannabis…trying to find money, making sure they had food. He spent about £70 a week on cannabis.”

The family were in debt, had rent arrears and were at risk of eviction as a result of the children’s anti-social behaviour and the criminal proceedings against their eldest son.

The two older boys had burgled a house on their estate – an empty house that they ripped apart and flooded. The eldest was hanging around with friends already involved in crime. The younger boys were also perpetrating anti-social behaviour on the estate, and the police were called out. Jake said he’d been unaware of the criminal and anti-social behaviour of his older sons.

Before the Family Intervention Project, the family had a range of professionals involved – including the police, housing, youth offending teams, educational welfare and Connexions.

The families Casey interviewed are already working with intensive family support services and are well on their way in many cases to turning their lives around.

Casey also alluded to one of the most striking common issues that families described.

She said: “The most striking common theme that families described was the history of sexual and physical abuse, often going back generations; the involvement of the care system in the lives of both parents and their children, parents having children very young, those parents being involved in violent relationships, and the children going on to have behavioural problems, leading to exclusion from school, anti-social behaviour and crime.”