Harry's Story
We have never seen such a change in a young person so quickly. Harry was beaming from ear to ear.
Read Harry’s story here:
Harry's Story
Harry was brought to the Night Shelter by the Police on the 11th of December 2023. He was 16 and had ‘fallen out’ with his Mum. Harry had extensive bite marks on his arms and a deep wound to his hand, inflicted by his Mum. Social Workers became involved, but Mum refused to let him back in the house, nor would she move out to let him return.
The Social Worker also remarked that Harry’s living conditions at home were very poor, and he was effectively living in a cupboard. Harry’s dad maintained contact with him. Children’s Services wanted to take responsibility for Harry under Section 20, but Mum was resisting. Whilst this was being discussed we were unable to apply for Universal Credit for Harry to enable longer term accommodation to be secured. By Christmas Harry was no nearer finding a solution and he spent Christmas Day in the Night Shelter.
Although he was still in the Night Shelter, at Christmas we take the young people to one of the housing projects so they can join in the festivities with other young people if they have nowhere to go.
Harry’s birthday was on 14th January and he said that he had nothing to celebrate and was very down in his mood more than usual. However, after much work with various services, we were able to offer Harry a long-term bed at our Safe @ Silas project and we went to visit on his birthday to check how he was settling in. We have never seen such a change in a young person so quickly. Harry was beaming from ear to ear. He said that this was the best birthday ever.
Harry is now progressing well. He is engaging with our staff to work on his options and is enrolling at college to start working on his future.
** Images shown are not of actual person to protect their identity.
