Desperately trying to revise for her GCSEs, Georgia Toman was suddenly moved to a children’s home 30 miles away from her school a month before her exams.
She found herself having to wake up at 6am so she could get ready and be out of the home before 7am to travel to her school by taxi for pre-exam lessons. The distance meant she wasn’t able to attend extra study groups to help her revise.
“It was one of the most stressful things I’ve been through, only beaten by going into care itself,” says Georgia, who first went into care at the age of 14.
She had been in a foster placement that broke down and she was initially taken to the children’s home as an emergency placement because they didn’t have anywhere closer.
At what was already a challenging period in her life, Georgia suddenly found herself having to settle into a children’s home with people she didn’t know, in a completely unfamiliar area, and was exhausted by the long days travelling to and from her school.
“I was trying to revise for my GCSEs and suddenly, I was told I was being taken to a children’s home. I didn’t know what to expect as I’d heard so many things about children’s homes and wasn’t happy with the idea, especially so close to my exams.
“However, I was told I was lucky as the other option was to send me to a children’s home 50 miles away and it was said in a way to make me feel that I should be grateful they were putting a roof over my head.”
