Is Prison an Extension of The Care System?

Imagine your first breath being taken behind prison walls, your earliest sounds echoing off cold, institutional surfaces. Your life begins in confinement, not because of anything you’ve done but due to circumstances beyond your control. You’re taken into care, offered to strangers who promise a better life, adoption and for a fleeting moment, there’s hope. But then, you’re returned to care, an endless shuffle of placements, rules, and strangers. Now, as a young person, you find yourself back in prison, facing the same walls that shaped your beginning.

This isn’t a story of failure. It’s a story of systemic neglect.

Trauma Without Understanding

Children born into such cycles inherit trauma they didn’t ask for. The trauma of separation, first from a parent, then from every environment they try to call home, builds layer upon layer. Every move tells them they are unwanted, every goodbye reinforces that they are unlovable. They carry this pain like an invisible weight, one that grows heavier with time.

Yet, the systems meant to support these children often misunderstand their behaviour. A young person acting out is labeled as “difficult” or “aggressive” when, in reality, they are screaming for help. Their actions are not defiance but survival.

A System Ill-Equipped

Professionals, often stretched too thin, can struggle to grasp the complexity of these children’s experiences. Without trauma-informed training, they may interpret behaviours as problems to fix rather than symptoms to understand. This lack of understanding fuels a cycle of punishment instead of support, alienating the young person further.

For many, this misunderstanding paves the way to the criminal justice system. A fight in school becomes an arrest. An outburst in care becomes a court case. By the time they are young adults, they’ve become exactly what society assumed they would be: a statistic.

Breaking the Cycle

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Breaking the cycle requires us to see the child behind the trauma and the potential behind the pain. It starts with understanding that:

1. Behaviour is Communication: Every action a young person takes is a message. Professionals need the tools to decipher those messages, to see anger as a mask for fear or withdrawal as a cry for connection.

2. Trauma-Informed Practice is Essential: Everyone working with children in care,from social workers to teachers to foster carers, needs trauma-informed training. They must recognise the impact of early adversity and respond with empathy and patience.

3. Consistent Support Changes Lives: Too often, care-experienced children are moved from place to place, never forming meaningful connections. Stability and consistent relationships are crucial for healing.

A Chance at Life

Imagine if the young person in this story had been met with understanding rather than judgment. If their first outburst in school was met with curiosity instead of detention. If their foster carer had the training to 

see beyond the behaviour to the hurt underneath. If every professional they met was equipped to support rather than penalise.

The story could have been different.

This blog isn’t just a reflection on what’s wrong, it’s a call to action. For care-experienced young people, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Trauma doesn’t have to define their lives, but only if we step up, learn, and change.

Every child deserves a chance, no matter where their story begins.