Hi, my name is Beanie123!

Beanie123

Hi! I'm a mum of 2 (one just finishing uni, one at high school) with multiple health issues. I have an inflammatory autoimmune condition, fibro, arthritis in my spine, various types of migraine, MH issues, and some other wierd and not-so-wonderful things!

I'm currently living in a temporary council flat (which I'm very grateful for) after being made homeless due to a sec 21 eviction as my landlord needed to sell. I've been assessed for an adapted property by the council so just waiting now.

After a truly horrific experience on a MH ward I would really like to put my experiences to use in improving MH care and advocating for vulnerable people who aren't able to do it for themselves. I'm also interested in improving the quality of care of looked after & adopted children by social services, schools, etc particularly in terms of understanding attachment & trauma. I'd love to hear from anyone who has a similar interest.

So that's me, struggling along but wanting to make it somehow worth it! If you stuck with me this far, thank you xxx

Albus_Scope

Hey there @Beanie123 and welcome to the community.

Thank you for sharing your tale, I hope your support will be great for people here and I'm glad you've found some accommodation, hopefully you wont be waiting too long now. 😊

Rosie_Scope

Welcome to the community @Beanie123. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience on a ward, but it's great to hear you're able to channel it into making a difference for vulnerable people.

I'm a biological child of my parents, but I grew up alongside foster siblings experiencing the care system, so it's always nice to hear from people who want to improve experiences for kids in similar situations. It's great that you're hoping to push for more understanding of trauma and attachment in these kinds of settings too. So little used to be known about it back when our family began fostering and there wasn't a huge amount of support around for some of our most vulnerable kids when they needed it most. So I hope things can change for the better with some deeper understanding.

Hope you're not waiting too much longer for your adapted property!

Beanie123

Thank you both!

@Rosie_Scope your parents did an amazing thing by fostering, and I'm sure having foster siblings helped you to grow up with compassion and empathy too! I have one adopted child and one birth child, and whilst they are both equally mine and equally loved, parenting an adopted child is very different in many ways. Adopting a child doesn't erase the life they had before they were ours, and they will always have a birth family who deserve to be and should be acknowledged, even if there is no contact whatsoever. I agree about the lack of understanding about attachment & trauma, even now as adoptive parents trying to get the message out it's still a battle in education, healthcare, MH, justice system, etc settings. We're making progress, slowly but surely we're being heard but there are so many adoptive families in crisis and a staggering number of adoptions break down because of a lack of support for attachment/trauma related issues. I think if I can use my own experiences to help others then it's a no brainer, it's not good enough to turn a blind eye just because things worked out for our family. These children deserve so much better, but things are changing. My local CAMHS now has a team specifically to work on attachment in early years, which makes me so happy!

Beanie123

@Beaver79 thank you so much.