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Academic Articles

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As a former foster kid, I'm giving Tracy Beaker a second chance

Sophia Alexandra Hall

2021

Sophia Alexandra Hall went into foster care as a teenager and was cared for by her local authority until leaving at 18 to attend the University of Oxford. Here she writes about the new Tracy Beaker TV series, 'My Mum Tracy Beaker'. The original series is often cited as inadvertently paving the way for negative stereotypes and labels to be attached to children in care. Hall explains: "Tracy Beaker and I have a complicated relationship. When I told my friends growing up that I was in foster care, I’d often be compared to the fictional character. At first, I didn’t understand the comparison. Tracy was a pre-teen living in a children’s home, while I was living in a foster placement and revising for secondary school exams. But it was easier to shrug off my care experience as ‘like Tracy Beaker’ than to explain the complexities of the system to my peers."

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Children and young people in social care, and those who have left, are often subject to stigmatisation and discrimination. Being stigmatised and discriminated against can impact negatively on mental health and wellbeing not only during the care experience but often for many years after too. The project aims to contribute towards changing community attitudes towards care experienced people as a group.

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