4min chapter

How Do You Cope? …with Elis and John cover image

S3 Lemn Sissay: ‘I only knew the importance of family by not having it’

How Do You Cope? …with Elis and John

CHAPTER

Are There Always Files in the Background?

I wonder if you could tell us, when did you begin the search for your file? I'm using the word file. Because when you were sort of communicating with your social workers, when you were fighting to learn more about yourself, suddenly the idea of this file looms quite large. And so I began at eighteen when I left the care system to request seeing my files from the government. In 1984, 1985 was the year that local government started to make available files from people who were kept in the care system. The Freedom of Information Act and the fighting for it through the liberal Democrats is what led to the freedom of information in local government for children in care in 1984, 1985.

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