Hackney Child is about a resourceful child, whose parents are unable to cope. Hope is left to help her brothers survive poverty and the economic collapse of the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Her mother is a prostitute whose clients come to the home, and the children are exposed to her profession, knowing it is wrong, but without fully understanding.  Despite the challenges, the compassion Hope shows towards her parents, particularly her alcoholic father shows the nature of the child.  Her resourcefulness and determination to survive is shown as she tries to do all she can to support her brothers, by gathering and stealing food, until it all gets too much.  Hope became a ward of court and remained in the care system until she was 18 years old. Hope believes that if she had not been in care she would have repeated the generational pattern of her own and many low income families:  prostitution, drugs, prison; growing up with an inability to positively contribute to society.  Without the support of professionals within and out of the care system she would, as an adult, have become a burden on the taxpayer, rather than the contributing individual she has worked hard to become.  Despite popular belief, children in care are damaged before going into the care system, not always because of the care system.  However flawed the care system may be, it is often better than home.

Hackney Child: a true tale of 'Hope Daniels' a neglected, but resourceful child surviving UK poverty and the care system

Daniels, Hope

Livingstone, Morag

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Livingstone's Photos

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Hackney Child: a true tale of 'Hope Daniels' a neglected, but resourceful child surviving UK poverty and the care system