A man from Manchester suffered horrific abuse and was moved dozens of times as a child in and out of the care system with his sister. Terry Galloway was placed in care as a child with his sister Hazel, and made her a promise shortly she died.
They were taken away from a family in Warrington where they were subjected to prolonged abuse before living in over a hundred different places from foster homes to refuges and squats. Hazel struggled with mental health problems and addiction because of this and was tragically murdered by her partner.
Terry was left devastated by this and committed to bringing about change for people who have experienced being in care. He has been lobbying councils across the country for changes that he says will bring about vital changes for young people in care.
A motion is set to be discussed at Sefton's full council meeting tonight (January 19) that if passed could place care experienced people at the heart of local decision-making. It calls for 'care experienced' to be a protected characteristic which Terry describes as a “life changing” approach.
The motion also calls for partner organisations, such as local colleges and health providers to declare themselves as corporate parents, creating a network that can take the pressure off struggling local authority social services departments and ensure the needs of care leavers can be met.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting service, Terry said his journey was inspired by a promise he made to his sister shortly before she died. He said: "I’m from Manchester but Warrington has a particular place in my heart because that’s where all the trauma started.”
After being placed in a foster home in Birchwood, Warrington, both Terry and his sister suffered abuse at the hands of the family trusted with their care. "I remember telling my mum, it was Christmas time and we were out on a visit and she phoned and pretended we got stuck in snow," he said.
Terry claims that after being interviewed by the police about his allegations of abuse, social services collected the children and returned them back to the home, adding: “that’s where it all started for us.” After his mum contacted the police again, the siblings were eventually moved out of the foster home and returned to their mum, who was struggling with heroin addiction.
He said: “From then on we were just in and out of care, we lived in over a hundred different locations from foster to children’s homes, refuges and squats.”
The experiences the siblings faced exerted a profound impact on Terry and his sister. Terry said: “When you go through that there’s no acknowledgement and it ends up re-traumatising. Hazel ended up anorexic, depressed, she was cutting herself.”
Terry said he found through his experiences a strength to harness what happened and funnel it towards a passion to bring about change. He said: “I’m just one of these people that looks for the positive in everything and sincerely believed that all that happened for a reason.
“It enabled me, it has given me power now because I understand the system a lot better and have a lot more insight than a lot of people and that helps to navigate the system so ultimately we can change it.”
One day he was attending a funeral with his sister, who was experiencing challenges with addiction, mental health issues and suffering from domestic abuse. She told him she thought she “would be next”.
Terry said: "When your sister says something like that, you gee her up and try and give her hope. She was always angry as there was never any acknowledgement and basically, I was saying we’ve been through this, let’s make it so that it all means something and it’s been a purpose.
“I’m quite spiritual and believe that everything happens for a reason and that’s what I was really emphasising to her, that we’re in this together, we’re going to change the care system and we made a promise to change it.” Hazel was tragically murdered by her partner shortly after.
Terry said he has since been campaigning tirelessly to change the outcomes for care leavers and said he can feel the “momentum building” as he speaks to councils across the UK.
He says declaring care experienced a protected characteristic - alongside race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or being pregnant - is “crucial” to ensuring local councils take into account people’s needs when setting policy, as this would then be part of equality impact assessments carried out when deciding new policies and planning services. It will also mean councils properly engaging with young people and finding out what the issues really are for those growing up in care.
Key to the process is the second part of Sefton Council’s motion – to lobby other partners to consider themselves as corporate parents too – a process which could free up social workers, who often have to focus on basics, such as helping care leavers understand how to change a plug or use a washing machine – tasks that could be implemented by other organisations instead. If the motion is approved at full council tonight, it will make Sefton one of just a handful of local authorities adopting the approach and Terry believes it will help the council transform its struggling children’s services.
He said: “The change will be very rapid. I believe the council could turn itself around from special measures to excellent by bringing in these changes. Engagement will be key. I will be there tonight and I’m excited to see what happens.”
Ultimately, while the actions of local authorities should have a key impact, Terry said the change needs to happen at national level too, with the Equalities Act being altered to include care experienced people.
He said: “The more councils that adopt this, the more we build the evidence base, people will see the transformation it has. I can feel things change, I can see it and the momentum around the United Kingdom is absolutely building for protected characteristics and then we’ll get it into legislation as well. People who have experienced the care system they have a powerful voice and they use it – now it needs to be listened to.”
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