A teenager who went into care after her family broke up is hoping to repay the social workers who helped put her life back on track by becoming one herself.
Annemarie Jones is just one of Swansea’s former looked-after children for whom social services intervention gave her a chance at a better life.
Her world fell apart when she was 12. Her relationship with her mum disintegrated and her grandmother, who was already a full time carer for her grandfather, found it difficult to cope with an unsettled and emotional 12-year-old.
Her family made the decision to call in social services to help.
Looking back Annemarie, now 19, said: “It broke my heart at the time and it must have been so hard to the family to see what that decision did to me at first. But it was a brave and right decision.
“Now I’ve got plans to go to university and to train as a social worker. I came through care. I know what goes through your head when you are facing being looked after.”
Supported by her social workers, Annemarie is hoping to head to college or university in 2011 to study social work.
She has completed a National Diploma in Health and Social Care and this year has been studying for an Access Course in Humanities.
Workers in social services have seen her grow from a troubled teen into a confident young woman with a lot to offer for the future.
Annemarie says it’s a far cry from where she was seven years ago when, after she became a looked-after child, she couldn’t settle with foster carers.
She said: “I think foster care would have worked if I had been younger but I was on the verge of being a teenager with everything that goes with that.
“Social services were my rock because they were there for me. The workers I had were my advocates. They listened.”
Annemarie added: “Social services is not a magic wand. They provide the service but you make your own decisions about how that is going to work for you. I am proud of what I have done with their help and I’m grateful for being given a chance.”
Debbie Jones from Swansea Council Social Services LAC 14 Plus Team said: “We are supporting Annemarie in achieving her dream.
“Annemarie would be an ideal candidate to train as social worker not only because she has been through the care system and because she has the academic ability but also because of her own values.”
Cllr Nick Tregoning, Swansea Council Cabinet Member for Social Services, said: “Annemarie’s clear-eyed commitment to reaching her goals is just one of the many stories of what our looked-after children in Swansea are achieving with social services intervention and support. No one should write these young people off.
“Despite huge challenges Annemarie is determined to follow her dream. She deserves our respect and admiration for that. I am delighted that her contact with social services has been an inspiration to her.”
