1996, I left care and found myself in a bedsit. My first Christmas Day I had a Pot Noodle on my own. Fast forward 30 years and young people leaving care are doing the same. How can we let this happen? Children in care are still children.

Too many young people leaving care fall into crisis simply because they can't find the support that's available to them. The same challenge affects frontline workers and foster carers trying to help. That's at Foster Greatness UK we created an AI-powered platform that brings vital information and resources together in one place. As the Government focuses on putting love at the heart of the care system, we must do the same with technology. Technology shouldn't just be smart—it should be compassionate, accessible, and designed to help every young person thrive. #CareExperienced #LeavingCare #AIForGood #FosterGreatnessUK #SocialImpact #CareLeavers #InnovationWithPurpose

Great to also meet @CCWild79 and hear more about the work Foster Greatness is doing alongside Josh MacAlister to improve the lives of children in care. A huge thank you to all our foster carers. What you do matters more than words can say 💜

Never underestimate the power of books. Damaged was written to give survivors a voice and to tell children and young people in our care system that they are not alone and that there is hope. But my work here is far from over. Unless we change the laws, children in care will continue to be at risk. This is personal to me on every level. After many years of campaigning, the voices of survivors were finally heard, and justice was delivered. That victory matters, but real change means ensuring that future generations of children are protected, supported, and never have to endure the same experiences. Thank you @BBCLookNorth @BBCNews

Hundreds of young people leave care every year carrying trauma from the very system meant to protect them. Too often, they're handed a leaflet and left to fend for themselves. That isn't support. It's failure. Too many end up in crisis when the right support could change everything. That why I'm committed to change and creating a system where young people can thrive.

We need a full public inquiry into the horrific abuse at Skircoat Lodge Children's Home in Halifax. In my view, too many people in positions of power knew what was happening—or should have known—and turned a blind eye. That includes questions for the police, the local authority, and others responsible for protecting children. This is far from over. More names and more truths will come to the surface. Survivors deserve accountability, justice, and the truth. The time for a public inquiry is now. @Calderdale @Kate_Dearden Woman Jailed For 25 Years For Her Role In Care Home Sexual Abuse, Calderdale | West Yorkshire Police share.google/PWbN8LeHSsO7gaV…

What happened at Skircoat Lodge Children's Home in Halifax should never have happened—and it must never happen again. Yet, despite decades of campaigning, inquiries, and promises of change, children and young people continue to suffer abuse at the hands of those entrusted to protect them. Enough is enough. The Skircoat Lodge case sends a clear and unmistakable message to perpetrators, predators, and anyone who believes they have escaped justice, time does not erase the truth, and silence does not bury it. You may evade accountability for years, even decades, but the truth has a way of finding its voice. You can run, but you cannot hide. Thank you @BBCLookNorth @BBCNews

My campaigning for children in care is personal. My book Damaged exposed the horrors of Skircoat Lodge Children's Home, but it also revealed a care system that too often fails the very children it should protect. I will keep writing, campaigning, and speaking out until every child in care is treated with dignity, opportunity, and hope—and until the next generation of care-experienced leaders can thrive. The horrors of Skircoat Lodge Children's Home, can never happen again. A big thank you to the @BBCNews for covering this story and giving survivors a voice.

Hundreds of lives were destroyed. We were called liars when we told the truth. We were beaten, humiliated, and locked in cupboards without food or water—treatment that belonged in the pages of Oliver Twist, not in modern Britain. Rape and abuse were not isolated incidents, they were part of daily life. Children lay awake at night, paralysed by fear, listening to the screams of others and knowing that they could be next. Yet when we cried out for help, we were ignored. When we spoke up, we were dismissed. When we told the truth, we were branded troublemakers and liars. We were children. Vulnerable children. The people who were supposed to protect us failed us. The systems designed to keep us safe abandoned us. And while the abuse continued behind closed doors, no one came to rescue us. #Damaged bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9v…

The witness statements from the survivors of Skircoat Lodge Children's Home were harrowing beyond words. What should have been a place of safety became a house of horrors—a place of torture, abuse, rape, and unimaginable suffering. Childhoods were stolen. Lives were shattered. The most disturbing truth is that, in 2026, too many children and young people in our care system are still being failed. They are still experiencing abuse, neglect, exploitation, and profound loneliness. Some reach such depths of despair that they take their own lives because the support they desperately need never comes. Enough is enough. #Damaged @BBCNews @SkyNews @NickMartinSKY @Kate_Dearden

Today, West Yorkshire Police publicly apologised to the survivors of Skircoat Lodge Children's Home in Halifax. For many survivors, this acknowledgement is long overdue. It has taken many years of courage, persistence, and determination to reach this moment. The silence from those who also have a responsibility to acknowledge what happened is deeply disappointing.@Calderdale I spoke to the BBC because an apology from one organisation is not enough. Survivors deserve the full truth. They deserve accountability. And they deserve justice. We are calling for a full public inquiry and a public apology from all those who failed to protect vulnerable children. This isn't about reopening old wounds. It's about recognising them, learning from them, and ensuring no child is ever failed in the same way. itv.com/news/calendar/2026-0…

There is a profound injustice in Mr. Phillips being allowed to spend his final days with his family when the survivors of Skircoat Lodge will live with the trauma of his actions for the rest of their lives. Today’s 25-year sentence for Linda Brunning sends a clear message, it does not matter how much time has passed. If you abused children, you will be found, you will be held accountable, and justice will come for you. Survivors are no longer being ignored. The truth is being heard. Now we must ensure these lessons are not forgotten and build a care system that truly protects every child, everywhere. @BBCNews bbc.co.uk/news/live/czexkk6e…

Today, justice will finally begin to be served for the survivors of abuse at Skircoat Lodge Children's Home in Halifax. As sentencing is handed down, I hope the court remembers not only those who survived, but also the many victims who never lived to see this day. Their voices matter too. I am deeply disappointed by the silence of @Calderdale, when such grave injustices have been committed against children in your community, silence is not leadership. Today is about accountability, justice, and remembering those who were failed by the very system meant to protect them.

There should be public outrage every time a children's care home/Foster placement, incident is met with an overwhelming police response that treats vulnerable young people like criminals. I've seen children arrested for trauma-related behaviours because staff/police officers lack the training to respond appropriately. Children in care need understanding, support, and skilled intervention—not criminalisation.

What a powerful week. Hosted the incredible Children & Young People Conference, launched Foster Greatness UK, and took another step towards completing my third and final book. Grateful, inspired, and ready for what's next. #Changeishere. Children in care are still children.

This is old, but it’s still relevant because nothing has changed. In fact, things have only got worse. We now have more illegal care homes housing our most vulnerable children than ever before. More children and young people in the care system are being abused, groomed into criminal gangs, exploited by predators, and tragically, too many are taking their own lives. I’ll say it again — this is the worst it has ever been. youtu.be/UJVKivzDLR8?si=X4Ns…

I get young people from our care system reaching out to me every single week about discrimination. Young people forced to live like second-class citizens because society has decided that’s all they’re entitled to. I’ve just come back from Europe delivering the same message, people think it’s not their problem, but it will be when we lose a whole generation of young people through social neglect. The cost of ignoring this crisis runs into billions. But by investing in young people properly — education, employment, safe housing, opportunity — we don’t just change lives, we save billions too. That’s real social impact. The question is not whether we can afford to act — it’s whether we can afford not to.

Governments, past and present, have ignored the warning signs in children’s social care for far too long. But the solution is right in front of us, if we start looking at the care system through the lens of a protected characteristic, we can stop young people leaving care and ending up homeless. We can stop them falling into the hands of criminal gangs. And we can stop care-experienced young people from feeling so abandoned and unheard that they take their own lives. #Thestateofit

There seems to be very little discussion in politics about children in care and care leavers. Regardless of which party forms the next government, there is a serious crisis that needs far more attention. We should not forget that a 15-year-old girl was reportedly raped in a children’s home in Durham a few months ago, yet there appears to have been very little public response or accountability.

In 2026, hundreds of children are still being abused in our care system — physically, mentally, and sexually. More young people in care are taking their own lives than ever before. The government refuses to change the law and make care experience a protected characteristic. Instead, care-experienced people are left to pay the price through homelessness, unemployment, prison, mental health wards, and premature deaths. Thats the reality for those who are abandoned by the state. A system that was meant to protect children has failed.

There’s a shift happening in politics, and people are finally speaking out. Yet thousands of young people in our care system still feel abandoned. In 2022, we called for care experience to be recognised as a protected characteristic — because every young person deserves legal protection, dignity, and support. Imagine blocking something that could help stop young people in care from becoming homeless, being groomed into criminal gangs, or exploited by predators. Imagine turning your back on protections that could tackle discrimination across every sector and help prevent the devastating rise in suicides among care-experienced young people. How many more young lives have to be failed before people finally act?