Some of the most loved figures in approved culture are abandoned children or children without parents. This month,a new exhibition, Drawing on Childhood, and opens at the Foundling Museum in LondonHow a society treats those children who hold no one to inspect after them is a degree of how civilised it is. It is scandalous that a prime minister should hold to confess,as David Cameron did last autumn, that the care system “shames our country” and that Ofsted should report that there are more councils judged as “inadequate” than “good” for their children’s services. So here are some young voices picked at random from my life nowadays.
Harold is an attention-seeking child. At times he can be needy and at others deeply resentful of intimacy. At moments of stress he has flashbacks of his late parents. He says he hears them speaking. He has been overheard talking to them. He is distrustful. He accuses his foster parents of abuse. He fights, or challenges authority at every opportunity and has run away on many occasions.
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Source: theguardian.com