19/11/2012 Inside Out South East

Should seaside towns in our region be looking after London's children

in care? It is too easy for the London boroughs to dump their

children, that is the only word I can use for it. We get to meet new

friends and meet new people, but you cannot attach yourself to any

one or how anything. The new idea creating the ideal environment for

wildlife in the South East. We just have a few wildlife reserves

protecting the wildlife, but we need a bigger picture and Living

Landscapes. And from Kent to Japan, the story of the blue-eyed Sam

arrive. -- samurai. This dog became a samurai in the Showgrounds court.

We have untold stories closer to Tonight, we are at Chiddingstone

Castle in Kent. More from here later on, but first, here is Rachel.

Margate is one of Britain's seaside towns that was once famous for its

tourism and in parks. Today it is more of a coastal destination. But

like some other towns in the South East, it is also a getaway for

children in the care system. Traditionally, chosen were sent

year from deprived parts of London for the sea air. -- children resent.

Become for foster care and two specialist children's homes. There

are 1200 children in Kent Centrum other authorities. But what is the

impact of taking in children from outside the area? Firstly, what

affect does it have on the children themselves? For the children moving

from London, the distances are eight Golf. Bevington the coast

leaves behind familiar routes, friends, family and schools.

Although there are children from all over the country, it is London

that sense the most, and they can find themselves up to 80 miles from

home. KJ Simmons was one of those children. I was moved from a

turbulent background with my breath mother from London, which

culminated in the moving to Whitstable first, and then because

I was abused by foster care in Whitstable, I was to move further

down to Margate. So this is where the children's home used to be?

KJ had to move away because he was escaping from a fraught child had,

but for others making the transition from London to the coast,

it can be a traumatic uprooting. Drew Ryan was born in Suffolk where

he lived with his mother and sisters. He remembers the day he

was taken away at the age of eight from London to the coast. It was a

shock. I was buying some sweets and I went home. I got to the front

door and as I got to the front door, me and my sister were literally

taken to the cart, and we were told to get in the car. We had no idea

what it was about. It has literally kidnapping. We were going and had

no idea what was going on. It was shocking. He founded alienating to

be torn from his London home. Everybody I knew, and obviously I

still had my family at the time, I was literally ripped array from it.

-- away from it. I had to meet new friends, but then I was moved again

and again. I literally had no backbone of friends that I could

always turn to. His experience is far from unique. Steven Lucey was

another child born in Southwark. He could have stayed near home but

there was no where suitable. After initially being based locally, he

was separated from his brother and sent to Kent. It was horrible,

because a lot of the time, being at school was not always good. It

wasn't always bad, but the worst part was, it was hard because you

had to make new friends and BTP bought and you could never be

attached to anyone or anything, because you would just get attached

to it and you would be moved away again. -- make new friends and meet

new people. The every disastrous consequences. I got into trouble

with the police in a Strood. I was getting into fights. Things that

were no good. I was always going down the bad part. Did you get into

serious trouble sometimes? Mainly fighting. I had my ribs broken with

a baseball bat. Children in foster care often go to local schools like

this one. This is Hartsdown Principal College in Margate. Two

years ago, their head teacher took the unusual step of turning away

some of these youngsters saying the school could no longer cope with

children from other authorities, and it wasn't good for the school

or for the children. We felt it was quite a cynical take that the local

authorities in London were taking by a moving children down here.

Devastating they thought they would be placed in a nice, seaside town.

It is not quite like that. One of the issues here is that social

services are very stretched. The social services come with the child,

so if we get a child from Haringey, then the social worker that works

with their child has to come to all of the meetings Downing

Cliftonville or Margate. It is just that the distances to grate. To get

his social worker from Haringey her Lewisham late at night to come down

is impossible. The problem of giving adequate care far from home

can have other consequences. I have heard of children that have gone

missing, because they are so unhappy in their placement and they

want to be back where their parents are, which is back in the local

authority. The Government was recently so concerned about

children missing from care, it commissioned an all-party

Parliamentary report into the issue. It took evidence on what happens

when children are placed away. replace them outside an area that

is familiar to them, of course the first thing they will do is run

away. They ran back to their home town or a bear run back to people

that they have known. So, they do not like being placed out of

familiar territory, and that predisposes them to run away and

then puts them at risk. London sense the most children to Kent,

but each London of charity has a duty to keep children in care as

close to home as possible. But why is the capital sending the dollar

but youngsters away? Enfield is one of the London boroughs that sense

some of its children to Kent. The director of children's services and

Sue Fraser's speaks on behalf of all of the London boroughs, so why

are they are sending the children so far away? It is important to say

that this is a very complex issue. Making arrangements for these

children and meeting their needs, these are very vulnerable children

with a wide range of needs. Often they can be specialist needs. To be

frank, with in London and within London boroughs, there aren't

always sufficient placements. There are insufficient specialist

placements. So all of London needs to look at opportunities were there

might be specialist, high quality place plants that could be outside

of London. In an ideal world, we would want to keep children as

close to their home environment for as long as that would be safe as

possible. It could be in a position where we have a placement within

the borough, or within 20 miles, or replacement that is further than

that. But we would prefer to identify and use the placement that

best meets their needs and the challenging needs, rather than at

placement that might be closer to home but cannot do that are very,

very detailed specialist work and with that child or young person.

spoke to one of the areas that said they would need four times as many

foster carers have to cope with the demand, is that is similar picture

across London? Is the real problem with having enough accommodation in

London? There is a shortage of foster care. In terms of London, we

are in discussion with the mayor's office to launch another big

fostering campaign, that we hope will identify more foster

placements. There are shortages of residential placements within

London. It is very choose to say that all of London boroughs have a

number of other authorities looked after children. But according to

the local MP, I lack of suitable accommodation in London is not a

good enough reason to send so many children to Kent. Somehow, we have

to prevail among local authorities to make provision for their own

young people in need of care. There will always be very few get further

and safety, and because of the potential of violence, for example,

have to be taken out of the area. Kent sends a few young people out

of Kent for that reason, and that is understood. But it is far too

easy for particularly the London boroughs to just dump their

children, and that is the only word I can use for it, in Thanet,

because it is easier and cheaper and it is out of the weight and we

do not have to bother with it, do we? But children in care that spend

their child said in an alien environment often find the

situation reversed when they reach adult had. When Andrew laughed care,

he found himself back where he came from, alone and suffering isolation

again. -- left to care. They send you back to be housed in London. We

were sent back to Southwark. You are given a house that you have to

bid for, and I did that, and I was given one. And now, at the moment,

I'm struggling with building up a new friends, I'm just here alone,

effectively. KJ once more choices for young people including an

option to stay in a new area if the young person has settle there. --

KJ once more. The outcome for young people, the at coming care is so

low, and that is because people get messed about. You need to make sure

that there are positive influences in their lives and they become

successful people and they will become successful. If you move them

away again and they feel isolated, then they end up doing silly things

that land them in prison. Government has commissioned a

special report into the placing of children in care away from their

home area. It expected to publish its findings in January. For Kent,

caring for other people's children has put a strain on the community.

For children arriving here, it can be strained and stressful, but for

the moment, London says they do not have enough room to look after

their own. Or are no easy answers, but the young people we spoke to

want their voices and choices to be Coming up...

Why is Will Adams so important? is important not only for Guru

Nanak Marg Gurdwara in Gravesend has taken eight years to build

because he was born here, but for the nation, because he was the

first Englishman to find himself in Japan.

Now, next time you're stuck in a traffic jam, instead of complaining,

have a look out of the window. You might be pleasantly surprised by

what you see. This is Gill Tysoe, from Kent

Wildlife Trust, doing a survey, back in the summer, of butterfly

numbers at a nature reserve near the village of Lydden.

And that's the Number 15 Bus to Dover.

This is a roadside nature reserve. There are more than 130 of them in

Kent, ranging from small verges like this one, popular with slow

worms. To massive sites like Bluebell Hill. All of them buzzing

and teaming with life. When you were driving past, you're probably

going quite fast. You do not realise what is actually here. It

is only when you start to walk along that you see how much is

growing here. Roadside reserves are just one

element in a nationwide scheme called Living Landscapes.

A big ambitious plan to try to create a thriving natural

environment for animals, plants, insects and people.

Because in the last 60 years, Britain's natural habitats have

been hit hard. We've lost 98% of our wildflower meadows. And our

pollinating insects have suffered hugely, with many species either

wiped out or in serious decline. And the space for wildlife is

coming under more pressure all the time. There's increasing demand for

land from things like agriculture, housing and even generating energy.

So that's where the Living Landscapes idea comes in. Here in

Romney Marsh, the Kent Wildlife Trust and the Sussex Wildlife Trust

are working with farmers, businesses, and volunteers, to make

this a Living Landscape. But what exactly does that mean? What we

want to do is to create bigger areas for wildlife and make it

better, and then to join them up, so that wildlife can move around.

And that is the key, isn't it, joining it up? Its species are

combined to one area, that is not a good thing, is it? The traditional

approach is to create nature reserves and to look after those

carefully. That is important, but if conditions change and the

reserve is very isolated, then wildlife has nowhere to go.

A living landscape needs wildlife friendly corridors to cross man-

made barriers like boundaries between land owners and counties.

And here at Rye Harbour Reserve in Sussex, humans, birds and insects

from both sides of the county line are already connecting quite well.

We are right in the eastern corner of the county. A lot of the

wildlife character of this nature reserve is shared more closely with

Kent and the rest of Sussex. We are working up with site managers in

Kent to manage similar habitats. This species need more than one

location. If you just live in one place, you're very vulnerable to

extinction. Maintaining habitats and linking

them together is hard work. It isn't just a case of leaving land

to go wild. Roadside reserves need to be left alone in the summer, but

cut back vigorously at other times of year. And these reed-bed

habitats for wetland wildlife need human effort to stay this way. So

these volunteers are chopping down willow trees before they can get a

foothold and take over. It's one thing to get volunteers to

help maintain habitats on nature reserves. But a farm is a business.

So can farmers really be persuaded to do their bit for the Living

Landscape? At this organic dairy farm near Pevensey some of the

grazing land has been replaced by reed beds.

But it wasn't cheap and it couldn't have been done without financial

help. We are actually paid to create this

reedbed area. We get a Government grant through the agriculture and

environment scheme. We really believe this is way forward. I

think some of the things we do, like a glowing red clover,

conventional farmers are doing as well. We're not quite so crazy

after all. David hopes that over time, people

will be persuaded to buy products from wildlife friendly farms and

that this will encourage more farmers to create habitats for

wildlife on their land. We do a drinking yoghurt and that's

something we put on the bottles, wildlife friendly. We encourage

people to visit our website. But what about those of us to do

not have acres of land to cultivate? How can we help. We can

make her gardens into stepping stones for wildlife. Here, they

have got examples of the kind of things you can do. From the

slightly scruffy wild meadow look to neater, more formal flowerbeds.

It's really the choice of species that was important here, to provide

things that provide nectar for bees, for example, over a long period of

time. Things that flower either for a long period or at different times

over the year, so that you have that continuity of pollen or nectar.

And the simple act of drilling holes in a wooden post will provide

passing insects with five-star accommodation. This is like a block

of flats for bees. Gardens, as a whole, can actually constitute a

huge area of potential wildlife habitat. If everybody just did one

thing, the potential benefit for wildlife over the area would be

huge. Over time, the Wildlife Trusts hope

to convince more people and businesses to encourage natural

habitats. Because, they say, we'll see the benefits in all kinds of

ways. If we look at the risk of flooding

and high water covers are wet plants, by changing them over time,

we can increase the risk of our own environments flooding. By planting

species put such -- such as black poplar, we can really increase the

amount of storage for water. Lewes knows a thing or two about

flooding. But I've come here to find out more about one of the

biggest challenges to the Living Landscapes project.

Persuading us, that whether we live in town or country, we should all

try to encourage more bees, butterflies and moths onto our

doorstep. There's a quote, "Britain was a

country of beauty and was turned into a country of beauty spots". In

some ways, we were once a country full of wildlife and now we're a

country with some wildlife reserves in it. Every were used to be filled

with hedgerows and wildlife, but now there is just reserves. Really,

we need a much bigger picture. It shouldn't be like this, then?

Not at all. Wildlife shouldn't be contained. It should be allowed to

roam. The wet summer weather this year

wasn't good news for a lot of our wildlife. But the hope is that over

the next few years, the habitats of the south east will become richer,

more varied and better connected by a network of wildlife corridors,

enabling large numbers of pollinating insects and butterflies

to get easily from A to B and making a living landscape that

works for all creatures, great and Now, around your house there's a

good chance you have something that was made in Japan. But how did this

trading relationship start with the Far East? Well it all began with

the Blue Eyed Samurai from Kent, Gillingham and Japan. Worlds apart

when you look at them on a map. But there's one important link, a

man that has tied these two places together for over four centuries.

And his name is all over this town. From pubs to health centres.

To roads. There's even a great big monument

to him. But who exactly is Will Adams?

Will Adams was a sailor and he became the first ever English

Samurai. Born in Gillingham in 1564, he was christened here at St Mary's

on the Green, where today I'm meeting Sue Haydock, who organises

the annual Will Adams Festival in the town.

Why is Will Adams so important? He is important because he was born

here, but also important for the nation because he was the first

Englishman to find himself in Japan. But why Japan? In those days if you

lived by the river, you probably worked on the river. Will Adams

undertook a 12 year apprenticeship to learn all the skills you need as

a sailor. Will went on to join the Dutch East

India Company with his brother Thomas and in the June of 1598,

they set sail with a fleet of five ships - the De Liefde, the Het

Geloof, the De Trouw, the Blyde Boodschop and Will and Thomas

aboard the De Hoop, on a voyage from Rotterdam to South America.

Though this journey was going to be far from easy. A tempestuous ocean

separated the ships and personal tragedy was waiting in the wings

for Will. They were late leaving. That means they missed the best of

the trade winds. They had to hold up in different places. They met

storms, pestilence, sickness, scurvy, everything you could

possibly have. Unfriendly natives. The two brothers were split up to

divide their skills in navigating. Tragically, the ship that his

brother was on was lost. The treacherous voyage saw many of

the ships lost of turned back. And in April 1600, after more than 19

months at sea, the De Liefde with a crew of about 20 sick and dying men

was brought to anchor somewhat off course at the island of Kyushu,

Japan. He was washed up as a shipwrecked mariner in the 1,600.

He was very worried you would be executed. He must of been of

curiosity to the Japanese. They had never seen an English person. But

he was also very skilful. He must have been a brilliant linguist. He

picked up Japanese quickly. If being shipwrecked wasn't enough,

Japan was in the midst of civil war. And a warlord by the name of Ieyasu

imprisoned Will. To find out more, I went for a cup of tea.

I found out that a big battle was on the horizon and Ieyasu bought

all the cannons from the wreck of Will's ship.

He took these cannons to the battlefield. You can imagine what

happened. If it hadn't been for his cannons, our history would have

been completely different. In October 1600, Ieyasu won a

decisive battle over his enemies, which eventually saw him become

Shogun. As soon as he was in power, he sent for Will Adams and moved

him into a house close to his castle at Edo, which is now modern

day Tokyo. Where Will Adams did wonders for

the Japanese. He helped open trade routes with the west and founded

the Japanese navy. Which led to the Shogun Ieyasu making him a Samurai.

I've come to Chiddingstone Castle near Penshurst, the home of a

special collection of Japanese artefacts, to find out more about

the ways of a Samurai. Here, we have got two Japanese swords. A

long-sought and a short sword. The samurai carried two swords. Both

the long one and the short one. Will Adams would have been entitled

to both of them. The show gun made him summarise. He was the first

summarised who was a foreigner in Japan and the samurai were the only

class who were allowed to carry two swords.

Will Adams had been in Japan for almost a decade when he picked up

rumours over English traders in the East Indies. He started writing

letters to these men, hoping to persuade them to come to Japan.

Some of these letters survive and they are amazing. They're a little

snapshot of his life in Japan. Of all his letters, do you have a

fear that it? I like this one. This line here...

Now for my service that I have done, being employed in the Emperor's

service, the emperor has given me a living, as in England, a board ship

with 19 people as my sleeves or servants. This is Will Adams, an

impoverished seadog from England has risen to become a samurai.

It wasn't just lands and swords that came with being a Samurai. He

was even given a new name. He was given a new name. That is

why his names were swapped around. His first name means Navigator.

That is his name. But there was trouble in paradise.

Will still had a family back in England he hadn't seen in years.

Did he ever see his family again? There is one very poignant letter

Seng that he was on the other side of the world. He wrote it to his

wife. It was like an angler squire. After a few years, he realised he

was never going to get back to England. That is there any takes

the momentous decision to marry a Japanese girl. Now, he has two

wives on different sides of the world!

Will Adams never got to come home from Japan. When he was finally

granted the permission to visit his family, his health had deteriorated

and on the 16 May, 1620, Will Adams, the blue-eyed Samurai, passed away.

So, next time you see the words "Made in Japan", remember how it

all began and the adventures of Will Adams. The one and only

Now, if you want any more information on tonight's show, you

can visit our local Kent or Sussex websites, and even watch the whole