I Thought My Child Would Be Safe Week In Week Out

of looking after her.

I worry - is my daughter still going to be alive

this time next year?

In foster care, the girl has been moved 17 times

in a search for the right home.

Tonight we ask is this good enough for her and others in care in Wales?

I am aware that some children experience many moves

and I think that's very sad.

And we find out what happened to the girl behind the story

which shamed our care system more than 20 years ago

and led to calls for change.

They need to do what they can to help her so she don't

turn out like me.

The mother at the centre of this story can't appear on camera

for legal reasons and we have to protect the identity

of her child, so actors will tell their story.

I was a single parent, we had everything we needed ? a nice life.

My daughter is a very lovable little girl.

But she doesn't like the word no, she couldn't handle it.

My daughter hasn't lived with me for four years now.

Before she went into care she was having aggression outbursts.

It was like walking on eggshells, didn't know

when it was going to happen.

Sometimes it would last hours, others it would be over quick,

but sometimes her eyes would just glaze, she'd go pale

and you knew what was coming.

She'd be making a grunting noise.

She would have the strength to rip mattresses off,

wardrobes ripped apart and smashed up and the chest of drawers -

everything was down the stairs, blinds, curtains, curtain poles.

I used to try to keep her calm and talk her through it.

She'd say she couldn't remember them rages.

It was a rage which I couldn't control,

that's why I had to get help.

The mother was convinced her daughter had mental health issues.

She asked social services for help.

She'd asked doctors - could the child have a form of autism?

She was told her daughter had behavioural issues.

When she attacked her mother again, the girl was taken into care.

I had no more strength, no more energy

and my whole house was in pieces.

There was no more I could do.

They just said they wanted to take her for six weeks and get

to the bottom of her behaviour and work with us as a family

and if we signed it voluntarily she'd come back.

We thought it was all positive to help her.

I didn't want her to go.

I couldn't cope.

She was kicking and screaming.

The mother has never been accused of abusing

or neglecting her daughter.

She says social workers accused her of treating her as a younger child,

and criticised her for trying to get a medical diagnosis

for her behaviour.

They said the mother was part of the problem,

and being in care would allow the girl to fulfil her potential.

They took her and within half an hour of them taking her I had

a phone call to say that there was a police search for her

and they had lost her already.

They'd taken her to the council offices ready for the

foster placement and they left her in the car.

One social worker went to sort out the paperwork and the other social

worker was in the front of the car and she attacked that

social worker - beat her.

She just ran.

She got on a bus to get home.

She was still in primary school and she got the bus home.

We are not identifying where they live.

Since being taken away from her mother, the

girl has run away from one foster home after another.

She's now on her 17th placement.

Most have broken down because of her escalating behaviour.

She put herself at risk no matter where the social worker put her.

She would get on a bus, she'd tell me she would cry

to the bus driver that she needed to get home and they

would just let her on.

She'd hide in the toilets of trains too.

The mother thought her child would receive behavioural therapies,

but she says things got worse and she feared for her

safety in foster care.

So how much responsibility does she take for what's

happened to her daughter?

I don't blame myself because this is what has always kept me going,

I knew she was always loved and cared for.

That's kept us fighting.

I brought her up same as I was brought up.

You know, you learn off your parents don't you?

I was brought up to know right from wrong, you know the word no.

My mother's voice would be enough for me.

The girl hasn't been to school regularly for two years.

Instead she'd go missing.

She's been caught shoplifting and when the violent outbursts

continued she was moved to a more secure unit.

The council - which we are not identifying for legal reasons -

is investigating claims that she recently tried absconding

from the unit in the boot of a car and was found en-route to England.

The girl's mother says instead of being better protected,

she is now at serious risk of harm because of the amount of times

she has been moved around.

She says her daughter has started smoking,

drinking, using cannabis and is now at risk of

sexual exploitation - and this all happened

under the council's watch.

The mother didn't know where to turn so she sought help from the

mental health charity MIND Cymru.

I'm meeting the woman who acts as the mother's advocate.

To protect the mother and daughter's identities,

her words are spoken by someone else.

This is probably the worst case I have ever seen.

She's been in a terrible state really because it's not

understanding how this could have happened.

The family were law abiding people.

They wanted help and they can't understand why they went for help

for their daughter and ended up losing her.

As someone outside the family, what was you impression of

the situation and their parenting?

I couldn't see anything horrendously wrong with the parenting.

None of us are perfect, you know, we could all do things better,

but I couldn't see anything wrong with their values.

I couldn't see how this child has become this way.

As one foster placement after another broke down,

the girl's behaviour got worse.

She needed a therapeutic placement but the council said

it couldn't find one.

It was always as if this is an emergency placement till

we find another one and now another emergency placement.

You are talking about a child going into a family that,

you know, there's your bed, there's the television,

there's the internet if you are lucky and you behave.

But there's no rules, no boundaries - not how parents are.

The advocate helped the mother complain to the council about why

the girl was missing so much school.

When she was at home they did struggle getting her to school.

If she lived at home and she didn't go to school they'd be in trouble

but it's OK for her to say no to the social workers

or to the people in the placement and then its fine and we can't

force her - that's OK.

It seems very much double standards.

The council says this is a particularly challenging case

due to the child's non-engagement and that it's continuing

to address the issue.

But when she wasn't in school, the girl was at risk on the streets.

She is very vulnerable in the way that she

is too trusting with people.

She would go off with people who might do bad things

to her but just for the attention and I feel she is confused,

I think she feels unloved, unwanted, no self esteem.

Just over two years after she was taken into care,

the mother received disturbing news from social services.

They told me there was an incident with some boys her own age,

they were out playing, they said there'd been some sexual

contact and then in another incident another boy who was a bit older,

sent indecent pictures of himself to her on Facebook, on her phone.

Social workers told her that her child was now at risk

of sexual exploitation in the community and online.

Can you imagine how that made me feel?

I felt physically sick.

Regardless of why she went into care, the council is accused

of failing in its duty to act as a good parent now that it's

responsible for the girl.

This is probably the worst case I have ever seen,

of a child being removed from a loving family

and not being nurtured.

And being passed from pillar to post.

In Wales there are more than 5,600 children in care.

For many it works.

But last year around one in ten of them had to move

three or more times.

That's something that raises serious concerns.

I am meeting Lord Laming who has chaired independent reviews

into some of the UK's most high profile care scandals including

the Victoria Climbie inquiry.

Just think what it means if every few months you go to live

in a different place with people you've never met before.

One case we've been told about, 17 moves.

What impact would that have on a child?

It gives the impression that nobody cares, that they don't matter,

it gives the impression that the authorities are primarily

concerned primarily with giving them a bed to sleep in.

It's not about having a creative, individual care plan

that is going to say, this is this child's needs,

this is how we're going to tackle these needs, and this is when we're

going to do it and we're going to do it now.

Coming into care ought to be that trigger to change things around.

What happens if that isn't done?

What impact can that have on a child's life?

Well, they will be scarred for life, they will have continuing problems.

It's a terrible price to pay for failure.

Since the early 1990s there have been a number of scandals in Wales

which exposed failures in the care system.

There've been warnings about what could happen to children

who slipped through the net.

One case prompted the Sarah Report.

These newspaper headlines from 1993 tell the story

of a 12-year-old girl in care, known as Sarah.

Her mum contacted the press because of the risks she faced

after she went into care.

Much like the girl we've been told about, Sarah was running away,

she wasn't going to school and she was drinking

and taking drugs.

Sarah ended up being sexually exploited.

Sarah was meant to be better protected in the care system.

But back then, she was in real danger.

She'd often be found in the city's former red light district.

Sarah used to run away from care and spend time here -

she sold sex to fund her drug habit.

She was 12 years old.

For weeks we've been trying to find Sarah.

She'd be 35 now.

We wanted to know what life has been like for her since she left care

and what would she say to the girl who is at risk now.

Eventually we found her and she agreed to speak to us.

She's asked us not to identify her.

I been back and forth in prison out prison, in out,

doing the same shit really.

Sarah's life is still chaotic and dominated by drug abuse.

I been smoking crack, I been smoking heroin.

I been watching people jacking up in their groin,

I been in the pubs drinking.

You were the girl in the Sarah Report.

What difference did it make to you?

It didn't make a difference to me.

I was going down that roller coaster and I wasn't coming back.

The people reading the articles were led to believe that

things had improved.

Nah, they was never improved, nothing ever improved.

I was still on the streets selling my body taking drugs

and that report sitting on a shelf doing lock all.

Like the teenage girl who's still in care,

Sarah kept being moved around the system.

I went from a foster family to a children's home,

just moved around really.

Did you go to school when you were in care?

When you reflect on that time and your life generally

what could have made a difference, what could have helped you?

The girl's mother, just like Sarah's, was desperate

for care to do just that.

But councils can struggle to find the right foster placement

because there aren't enough of them, especially for children

with challenging behaviour.

She said once when we had to send her back to one

of the foster carers she'd had enough, she would rather jump

in front of a train than put up with it all and I was like,

no, please don't say things like that.

We all love you and we are all fighting for you but

then it's let down after let down.

The council told us some of the placements

were short term emergencies.

Others broke down for other reasons, ranging from absconding

to assaults on staff.

The mother says she's been warned her daughter

could end up in a secure unit if her behaviour doesn't improve.

It should never have got to this stage, she's had so many moves,

how is that OK?

Care shouldn't be like this.

Last year Welsh councils spent almost ?250 million on providing

services for looked-after children.

Foster care can cost between ?23,000 and ?43,000 a year.

But if that doesn't work, it can cost even more.

The cost of keeping a child in a young offender institution -

?60,000 a year.

The cost of keeping a child in a secure children's home

- ?200,000 a year.

The cost of keeping an older person in prison -

very costly indeed.

And, it can be just a negative experience in a downward spiral.

This is our one opportunity to at least do everything we can

to change that and it should never be for the want of trying.

In a report last year, Lord Laming warned the UK

and Welsh Governments that too many looked-after children were ending up

in the judicial system.

And there's a financial as well as a human cost.

The price is often a life of sadness, and the cost to society

is often in mental health services, addiction service

or in the criminal services.

Hey, we can do better.

After so many foster placement breakdowns,

the mother of the teenage girl says care has failed her.

She should have had the help she needed.

She is now a failed little girl lost in the system.

Last summer the advocate from MIND was so worried about the girl's

welfare that she contacted the office of the Children's

Commissioner for Wales and asked for an investigation.

I said about the lack of education, I said about the number

of foster placements, and that this child just

wasn't being looked after.

And they took all my concerns then contacted me a couple of weeks later

to say that they had inevstigated and felt that it was a very complex

case and they didn't think there was anything wrong.

What did you think about that response?

I was really unhappy.

They didn't speak to mum and they didn't ask me any questions.

I did say please don't take this personally but I am disgusted

with what you told me - I can't believe you have come back

and said there is nothing wrong, you know, there catergorically is.

They thought the investigator would call - and the mother

would have told them social workers had flagged their concerns

about the girl's welfare within the council.

And, that having identified her daughter as being at risk of sexual

exploitation at the age of 12, the girl had to wait nearly five

months for the help she needed.

I think it's disgusting.

They could have found out more if they had contacted me.

I could have told them about my concerns, about the care

she is not receiving.

I wanted to ask the Commissioner Sally Holland, did her office know

about the delays in getting the girl specialist help.

And why didn't her officials contact the girl's mother?

I'm afraid I'm not able to talk about the specifics of that case.

However, in general I run a learning organisation and if anyone did have

any concerns I would actively encourage them to come

to my organisation.

We would want to respond to them, talk to them

as promptly as we could.

Can you understand the parent's frustration though trying

to raise these risks, these dangers, their concerns

and going to organisations like yourselves, like the council,

and feeling like they're hitting their head on a brick wall.

Can you understand those frustrations?

As I said I don't have the child's consent to talk about this case.

I'm not able to talk about this specific case.

Is it acceptable that a child has 17 moves?

No one would ever want that to happen to any child.

I am aware that some children do experience that many moves

and I think that's very sad.

Having told the child's mother and police that she was at risk

of sexual exploitation, the council said it would arrange

specialist counselling for her.

But for months nothing happened.

I think it should have been an urgent referral -

a child at risk - and I think it should have been discussed more

and I think more concern should have been placed upon it.

It took too long for something that's so serious -

and anything could have happened in that time.

The council says it didn't need to tell the commissioner's office

about social workers' escalating concerns about how much

school she was missing, or the number of times she'd been moved.

It admits there was a delay in referring the girl's case for help.

And it says it didn't tell the Commissioner's office because it

wasn't asked for further information on the issue.

Among the more than 5,600 looked-after children in Wales,

there is a clear need for specialist therapeutic placements.

The Children's Commissioner says she's worried supply

is not meeting demand.

Over the last year I've raised this twice with the director of

social services in Welsh government and I've also raised it

with the Cabinet Secretary for Children, my concerns

about the shortage of these kind of placements.

I was talking to a social services head last week, who said to me

they were particularly concerned about one child,

really needed to find a safe place for her to live -

she was coming out of hospital - and they approached 100 different

providers before they found somewhere safe enough

for her to stay in.

That's the kind of situation that the local authorities are in.

Sometimes young people are having to go to Scotland or quite far

distances in England from Wales, in order to be safe and receive

the care that they need.

That's not right for the young person and it's not right

for their family either.

When her last foster placement broke down,

the council was told by an expert that the girl needed

behavioural therapies.

She was sent to a council-run children's home.

Not long after, her mother had a phone call.

There was an incident in the woods with two older boys -

both of them are older.

One's a man really.

Apparently she went into the woods with them and came out.

She told the friends that they done stuff to her.

She is only a child.

I just screamed down the phone.

It makes me feel pathetic, helpless.

The council wouldn't tell us what it did to investigate the allegations

or why the girl wasn't sent to a therapeutic unit sooner.

But it says it's undertaking its responsibilities in full.

After 16 moves the girl was finally sent to a therapeutic residential

unit where she has access to education

and mental health monitoring.

But her mum is still worried.

She is supposed to hand her phone to them at night but she refuses

and they don't make her cos she says she will kick off.

She was ringing me up at 2 in the morning.

I said, what you doing up this time of night?

She said, I'm bored.

I'm on FaceTime with my mates.

I said, well why have you got makeup on,

and she said, oh just to do selfies on FaceTime.

I got a photo.

She looks like she's going to a nightclub.

She looks 18.

It just scares me.

I know what's out there on the internet.

I'm petrified.

They may say it's more secure but she's been on the phone

to me under the influence of drink and drugs.

She managed to get some random person to buy her drink

when she went into town and she's told me an older girl

in the same unit has given her cannabis a few times,

so God only knows where that could end up.

I'm worried about what other drugs she will do and if she gets hooked

she could end up going down the road of prostitution for the money.

Cos she's so hurt nothing is going to hurt her any more.

If a parent can't protect their child

then the care system is meant to.

It's 23 years since the controversial Sarah Report

exposed how - as a 12 year old girl in care - she'd slipped into a

dangerous world.

Sarah says this is where another girl who was in care

taught her how to sell sex.

To the men who abused Sarah, her age didn't matter.

A few guys did know my real age and they still had sex with me.

Sarah says one day she was picked up off the streets and attacked.

She says she didn't report what happened.

She went back to her foster placement and said nothing.

Cardiff Council told us it's committed to doing

everything possible to prevent child sexual exploitation.

It says it would be inappropriate for it to comment on the working

practices of its predecessor, South Glamorgan Council.

It said important lessons had been learned following the Sarah Report

which helped bring about marked improvements in the way

local authorities look after vulnerable children.

Having met Sarah, it seemed some things hadn't changed for her,

but what advice would she give to the girl and others

still in care?

So is there enough help out there for children throughout Wales

who could be at risk of being sexually exploited?

We are getting better at identifying children,

better at identifying perpetrators of child sexual exploitation ?

police are actively chasing them.

What we're not...

What we don't have enough of yet is the services

to help children recover from child sex exploitation.

We don't have enough consistent available therapeutic services

so those children can recover and go onto lead active lives.

It's shocking.

It's shocking.

These are the most vulnerable children, waiting for specialist

counselling, how can that be acceptable?

I would expect any child to have the counselling

services they need - any child who's been through

child sexual exploitation, as early as possible and that's why

I've been raising it as a concern.

Support for victims of sexual exploitation is provided by police

forces and partner agencies.

A spokesperson told us prompt and positive steps are taken

to intervene effectively as soon as evidence of need emerges.

The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children,

Carl Sargeant, declined an interview but a spokesperson said that

improving the life chances for looked after children

is a key priority.

They said councils have a legal duty to ensure they have enough

placements to meet the needs of children in their care,

though they recognise the particular challenges

in finding therapeutic placements.

It's also working on a National Fostering Framework for Wales.

The mother of the teenage girl has been told she is likely to remain

in council care until she's 18.

I have asked them to provide her with contraception.

It's not something I want - she's only a kid herself,

but if she has a child, is that child going to be

but if she has a child, is that child going to be born

and become lost in the system?

I worry is my daughter still going to be alive this

time next year?

The council told us it was unaware of the girl's drug misuse and it

believes there's been a reduction in her risk-taking behaviour.

It also says the risk of her being sexually exploited have

decreased as a result of her being in a secure setting.

The mother disagrees and has asked the Public Services Ombudsman

for Wales to investigate the council about the way it's

cared for her child.

She is waiting for a response.

Two decades after leaving care, Sarah still hasn't found

the stability she longed for.

But after all she's been through, Sarah is no

longer sure that she can.

A Welsh Government committee is working on an action plan

to implement Lord Laming's recommendations for keeping children

in care out of trouble.

Too often when things go wrong, it can seem like a self-fulfilling

prophecy, like "what do you expect of children in care?"

We must never let children be written off.

Every child in care is precious.

And for the mother who told her daughter's story,

her only hope is that it's not too late to change the ending.

My daughter hasn't got a future - she hasn't got one -

unless we can get the right help for her now.

Who is going to help and save her?

That's my worry.