Rev John Travell, who spent 17 years in care as a child, expresses concern about the current state of the care system, contrasting it with the supportive environment he experienced in the 1930s and 40s.
Rev John Travell says the level of support he received during his years in care aren't available to children today in a crumbling, privatised sector. Reverend Dr John Travell was born in a workhouse in Britain in 1930 and spent 17 years moving between different National Children’s Homes, now Action for Children, across the country.
His young life was peppered with experiences that moulded the man he became – being evacuated during the war; moving to a smaller home where carers lived with children and formed lasting bonds with them; and being trained as an apprentice in a printworks when he was 14. And while he is candid about the challenges he faced growing up in care, and the fact that “I didn’t know what love was until I got married”, he also credits the people who looked after him and the lessons he was taught with setting him on a path toward happiness and success.Rev Travell has told the stories of his childhood in a memoir (Photo: Action for Children), aged 94, to both shine a light on the critical role played by charities that support children, and sound the alarm about the worrying state of care today.. “Aged 16, 17, they’re chucked out without any skill to earn a living and no place to live. They end up on the streets or in prison which we’ve just taken for granted happens to kids in care these days.“Whereas I had professional training, I got a first class City & Guilds running a big printing machine, and all the foster families and carers kept in touch and helped you out if you were in trouble.”are placed outside their local area. Only 14 per cent go on to higher education compared to 47 per cent of children who haven’t been in care. “There are so many sad stories these days,” says Rev Travell. “Care for children has gone into nosedive. The kind of care that I received in the 30s and 40s made a difference to my life and it’s not available to children toda
CHILD CARE SOCIAL WELFARE EDUCATION SUPPORT SYSTEMS GOVERNMENT POLICY
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