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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/26/the-first-person-i-trusted-ever-people-who-help-the-homeless-need-your-help
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| 'The first person I trusted, ever': people who help the homeless need your help | 'The first person I trusted, ever': people who help the homeless need your help |
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| Stop and talk to homeless people out in the cold streets, the hostel-hoppers and bed-hunters hoping for something to turn up, and many will have had childhoods as destructive as 22-year-old Zinnia’s. Sofa-surfers like Zinnia will only have stayed off the street by clinging to malign and abusive relationships, just to keep a roof over their head. | Stop and talk to homeless people out in the cold streets, the hostel-hoppers and bed-hunters hoping for something to turn up, and many will have had childhoods as destructive as 22-year-old Zinnia’s. Sofa-surfers like Zinnia will only have stayed off the street by clinging to malign and abusive relationships, just to keep a roof over their head. |
| She was born an outsider, deprived of everything a child has a right to expect. Those who sneer at busybody social workers and the “nanny state”, pause here and ask how our threadbare state services can leave so many children to fend for themselves in a hostile world. | She was born an outsider, deprived of everything a child has a right to expect. Those who sneer at busybody social workers and the “nanny state”, pause here and ask how our threadbare state services can leave so many children to fend for themselves in a hostile world. |
| The oldest of three girls from a disastrous family in the north-east of England, she had a father who was drunk and violent. If ever officialdom came near, her parents took her away, always on the move to Hartlepool or Stockton or a string of other towns, never settling. For a while they slept in a tent. Her mother threw her father out when she was just five and he took Zinnia with him. Zinnia lived alone with him until she was nine, terrified, hiding from his returns from bouts of drinking, with no money, as their benefits went on alcohol. She never went to school or learned to read and write. By the time social workers eventually found her and took her into care to a foster family she was traumatised. | The oldest of three girls from a disastrous family in the north-east of England, she had a father who was drunk and violent. If ever officialdom came near, her parents took her away, always on the move to Hartlepool or Stockton or a string of other towns, never settling. For a while they slept in a tent. Her mother threw her father out when she was just five and he took Zinnia with him. Zinnia lived alone with him until she was nine, terrified, hiding from his returns from bouts of drinking, with no money, as their benefits went on alcohol. She never went to school or learned to read and write. By the time social workers eventually found her and took her into care to a foster family she was traumatised. |
| By then, normal life felt impossible for an unsocialised child, avoiding company, miserable at school where she was so far behind. She often ran away and slept rough. She was pregnant at 16, but her baby was put into care and then adopted. despite Zinnia’s efforts to keep her. She chose a lesbian couple for her daughter. | By then, normal life felt impossible for an unsocialised child, avoiding company, miserable at school where she was so far behind. She often ran away and slept rough. She was pregnant at 16, but her baby was put into care and then adopted. despite Zinnia’s efforts to keep her. She chose a lesbian couple for her daughter. |
| At 18 she left foster care and her life fell apart. She describes it with painful clarity, locking herself indoors for months, grieving for her lost baby, with a boyfriend who kept getting them evicted: he was rowdy and warred with neighbours. Shifting from one bad relationship to another just for somewhere to live, she was adrift. Her benefits were often stopped. Although obeying orders to make the regulation 40 job applications, when she got no interviews the job centre sanctioned her for not trying hard enough. | At 18 she left foster care and her life fell apart. She describes it with painful clarity, locking herself indoors for months, grieving for her lost baby, with a boyfriend who kept getting them evicted: he was rowdy and warred with neighbours. Shifting from one bad relationship to another just for somewhere to live, she was adrift. Her benefits were often stopped. Although obeying orders to make the regulation 40 job applications, when she got no interviews the job centre sanctioned her for not trying hard enough. |
| When she finally found a flat, she could not cope with the bills and she lost it again, something that happens time and again with young people from care if no one helps them. “I couldn’t afford it. It was having the gas on or paying the rent, so I went to food banks.” Next she sofa-surfed with whoever would take her in, until ejected. “I just had a bag of clothes.” She says she wasn’t easy to live with, unsociable and disconnected. Despite a childhood in care, she has never had any psychiatric treatment. | When she finally found a flat, she could not cope with the bills and she lost it again, something that happens time and again with young people from care if no one helps them. “I couldn’t afford it. It was having the gas on or paying the rent, so I went to food banks.” Next she sofa-surfed with whoever would take her in, until ejected. “I just had a bag of clothes.” She says she wasn’t easy to live with, unsociable and disconnected. Despite a childhood in care, she has never had any psychiatric treatment. |
| You might think someone so mortally damaged from birth, never knowing love or hope, would be well beyond help. If anyone tried to offer kindness, Zinnia tells me she pushed them away shunning company or assistance. Expecting nothing of life, she got nothing, trusting no one. | You might think someone so mortally damaged from birth, never knowing love or hope, would be well beyond help. If anyone tried to offer kindness, Zinnia tells me she pushed them away shunning company or assistance. Expecting nothing of life, she got nothing, trusting no one. |
| But that all changed when she met Emma Burke, a support worker from Centrepoint, one of three charities backed by this year’s Guardian and Observer appeal. Centrepoint helps 9,000 homeless 16-25 year olds a year. “I’d have been on the streets without her. She’s the first person I trusted, ever.” But helping Zinnia wasn’t easy: she gave Emma hell for six months at first. “I pushed her away, over and over. But she understood my mental problems, my good days and bad days. She was there when I needed her.” Bit by bit, Emma has helped Zinnia create a new life for herself, now securely housed and employed. | But that all changed when she met Emma Burke, a support worker from Centrepoint, one of three charities backed by this year’s Guardian and Observer appeal. Centrepoint helps 9,000 homeless 16-25 year olds a year. “I’d have been on the streets without her. She’s the first person I trusted, ever.” But helping Zinnia wasn’t easy: she gave Emma hell for six months at first. “I pushed her away, over and over. But she understood my mental problems, my good days and bad days. She was there when I needed her.” Bit by bit, Emma has helped Zinnia create a new life for herself, now securely housed and employed. |
| She is in the first year of a three-year apprenticeship as a painter and decorator for the North East Autism Society, learning on the job as she does up their properties, and spending a day a week in college . “I love it, love it! This is the dream job, made for me!” Now as part of Centrepoint’s youth parliament she has found her voice in public and gives talks in schools. “I tell them not to give up, however bad things are.” | She is in the first year of a three-year apprenticeship as a painter and decorator for the North East Autism Society, learning on the job as she does up their properties, and spending a day a week in college . “I love it, love it! This is the dream job, made for me!” Now as part of Centrepoint’s youth parliament she has found her voice in public and gives talks in schools. “I tell them not to give up, however bad things are.” |
| That’s a happy ending for Zinnia, but not for Centrepoint. Sunderland council, like all others, hit by 40% cuts, has withdrawn £900,000 funding for Centrepoint’s 18-bed hostel for 18-25 year olds in the city. When Centrepoint lost its council grant, it had to close its floating support work for another 30 young people adrift in the community. Sunderland can only fund bare statutory services for young parents and care leavers, so homeless young people only get what is available to adults. | That’s a happy ending for Zinnia, but not for Centrepoint. Sunderland council, like all others, hit by 40% cuts, has withdrawn £900,000 funding for Centrepoint’s 18-bed hostel for 18-25 year olds in the city. When Centrepoint lost its council grant, it had to close its floating support work for another 30 young people adrift in the community. Sunderland can only fund bare statutory services for young parents and care leavers, so homeless young people only get what is available to adults. |
| Emma still sees Zinnia every week and they talk more often on the phone – but she’s no longer funded for that. Other Zinnias that come along now will struggle to find the same help. No longer funded by the council, Centrepoint needs to raise the money to keep up the life-saving work of staff such as Emma. | Emma still sees Zinnia every week and they talk more often on the phone – but she’s no longer funded for that. Other Zinnias that come along now will struggle to find the same help. No longer funded by the council, Centrepoint needs to raise the money to keep up the life-saving work of staff such as Emma. |
| Support our three chosen charities by donating here. | Support our three chosen charities by donating here. |
| This article was amended on 27 December following further information from Centrepoint | This article was amended on 27 December following further information from Centrepoint |
| Guardian and Observer charity appeal 2017 | Guardian and Observer charity appeal 2017 |
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