Bullying and the Care-Experienced
Whilst bullying can affect anyone at any time, care-experienced young people are unfortunately one of the key groups that can be vulnerable to bullying.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance, a registered charity committed to tackling bullying to create safer environments for children, define bullying as ‘the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.’
The organisation has also shared some statistics that state that care-experienced young people have reported twice the level of bullying at primary school stage, and an incredible four times the level of bullying at secondary school.
There are a number of possible reasons for this.
The overarching reason is that there still exists a social stigma around being in care. This is likely to make young people reluctant to share that they are in foster or residential care with their peers. However, should this information be discovered, they may become withdrawn – leading to feelings of isolation and disconnection. If young people begin to feel like they don’t ‘fit in’, it can make them more susceptible to bullying.
“Young people and children who are in care can sometimes be victims of bullying and can be shunned in their community, family, school and society. Many children and young people may try and hide the fact they are in care, through fear of rejection from peers.”
Iqra, TACT Care-experienced young person
Another reason is related to mental health. When young people come into care, it is likely that they have suffered significant past trauma. In addition, the very act of coming into care could be emotionally stressful. All this can impact on children’s mental health – to the extent that they may display behaviours or characteristics that could make them vulnerable to bullying. This could have longer term repercussions, as any bullying could exacerbate mental health problems.
Some young people may have had multiple placement changes, that may have resulted in school moves. Not feeling settled in a particular area could also lead to feelings of insecurity that could make young people a target.
How can bullying be tackled?
We need all bullying to stop, but for children in care the key starting point is to dispel stigmas, myths and misconceptions – and that needs to be instigated within educational environments.
If bullying occurs within the school environment, it is law that all state schools must have a behaviour policy in place that includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying. All teachers, pupils and parents/guardians must be told what it is.
Whatever the bullying environment may be, the key message to get across is that children in care should not feel alone. Encouraging them to tell a responsible person is a significant step towards tackling bullying early and effectively.
Responsible people could include:
The child’s foster carer. Foster carers receive training on how to respond to situations of bullying, but they are also able to alert or liaise with other professionals, such as teachers or the child’s local authority social worker.
The child’s local authority social worker. Other than the child’s birth parents, the young person’s social worker would be another relevant responsible adult to raise instances of bullying with. They would equally be able to instigate a plan of action to deal with a situation of bullying.
Other practitioners. TACT have a team of Children & Young People Well-being Practitioners (CWPs), that provide therapeutic one-to-one support to young people in care. Some examples of that support include:
- Support for children who are new to care and need support adjusting
- Support for children who are socially isolated, by attending events with them in their local community. This could include sports, drama groups etc.
- Emotional support for young people who are struggling with school, bullying, social media and body image
- Support for young people who are transitioning to new TACT carers, or from school to college
- Support with a young person’s confidence, self-esteem and self-image
Resources for young people
There are a number of resources available for young people:
Childline
It is important to highlight that the quicker bullying is reported, the quicker it can be dealt with before the situation gets out of control.
Read our Bullying: Everything You Need To Know article for more information.