Meet Ben
“The job itself is so rewarding, but you also develop as a person yourself. It is one of the best jobs I’ve ever done, it’s incredible.”
How did you come to working in a children’s home?
I had a friend that did this line of work and she’d tell me all the stories about it. One day I just thought, “Do you know what? I might give it a try.” And then two years later I’m here.
Obviously you hear the stories and you think, “I’d never be able to do that.” But actually, no, it’s been so much better, so much more fun. It’s been incredible.
Tell us a bit about the needs of the children you work with…
Each child and young person comes with their own individual needs. It’s basically just providing a safe, loving environment for each of them, making sure that their basic needs are being met – they’re getting breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, personal hygiene’s being maintained. It is often just about providing a safe, loving environment.
Personally, I care for a young person with autism, which has been rewarding actually because I didn’t know a lot about autism before. Since having this young person with us we’ve done a lot of training into meeting the needs of autism, which has been really, really good.
You get loads of training; both in-house and external. So you can come not knowing anything, and leave knowing a thousand more things! So yes, it’s very good.
Can you describe a typical day at work?
It’s just a very simple family environment really. On a school day it’s very much getting them up for school, getting breakfast, packing their lunch and them getting them to and from school. When they come home it’s getting them out to their activities, their clubs. Some children have swimming lessons, kick boxing, dancing, drama clubs. So it’s making sure they go to their clubs. We’ve got a few actually that do cadets, so it’s helping make sure they’re ready and able to be there.Then in the evenings there are games nights, movie nights, cooking dinner, baking.
There are some stereotypical ideas about what it’s like in a children’s home, as if it’s chaos and carnage, but actually no, it’s the opposite, it’s a pretty settled family environment really.
What do you find most challenging in your role?
Sometimes a child or young person will come to you for advice, and you may not have the knowledge about that certain subject or, not be in a position to have that conversation with them.
For example, recently a young person came to me and wanted my opinion of their parents. They said, “I think my parents are lying to me. What’s your opinion of this?”. I didn’t feel comfortable at all, I wasn’t really in a position to give them the facts because I don’t know the facts myself. So it’s about being able to handle those kinds of situations in a supportive way, guiding them and offering them reassurance and comfort, that they’re okay, they’re in a safe environment. That can be quite challenging at first when you’re not experienced. I feel sometimes you’ve not had the experiences yourself to comfort them in some things that they may be struggling with. So in those situations it’s about finding other ways to comfort them.
How about the most rewarding part of your role?
The most rewarding part is seeing the change when some children and young people have come to us with such low self-esteem. Their self-belief is like, “No, I can’t do that. I won’t do anything. I’m just going to end up in a ditch somewhere.” It’s not nice to hear, so when they achieve their milestones or their overall goal, that is extremely rewarding – and especially when you’ve been a part of that.
So, for example, it could be something as simple as personal hygiene. They may have gone from having a bath once a month to now showering every day. That itself is a huge achievement for them. And then if you’re the one that’s encouraging that, you go away feeling extremely proud because you’re like, “Oh, they’ve done it!” That’s a good part.
What would be your message to someone else considering a role in residential childcare?
You hear a lot of horror stories and there’s a lot of stereotypes with the children and young people that we do care for. A lot of stereotypes involve a kid in care, assuming they must be problematic, cause lots of troubles, fighting, it’s carnage, it’s complete chaos. It’s the complete opposite. It’s very much ‘take that leap and do apply’, because when you’re in it you’ll realise actually it’s not like the stereotypes. It’s actually not what it sounds like. It’s so much more, so much more than just ‘kids in care’.
It's also about personal development. Even though the work is all about the children and young people that you do care for, there’s a lot of personal development as well. I’ve been in this career for two years now, and I would say that I’m a completely different person to what I was. My confidence has completely shot up, my self-esteem’s shot up, because even though you’re working with the young people and the children to develop their self-esteem, you’re also developing your own - you identify your own strengths and weaknesses. You’ll do something and then when you watch a young person achieve their milestone, you think, “Oh, God, I helped with that!”. I’m 26 and the thought of caring for three children you’d think, “Oh, My God.” You just think, “Would I ever be able to do that?” Then you come on shift with your shift partner and you play the role as the parent. It’s crazy to have so much responsibility and actually achieve so much.
With regards to personal development - it’s about the children and young people, the job itself is so rewarding, but you also develop as a person yourself.
It is one of the best jobs I’ve ever done. It’s incredible!