Vange teenager turns her life around

The office at Vange The names of the individuals have been changed to protect their identity.

Lisa Brown is a 15 year old who lives with her mother and 3 brothers who are aged 11, 6 and 2 years. Her mother is single and for a long time struggled to cope with the behaviour of her children. Lisa’s 11 year old brother has behavioural problems which added to the problems the family were experiencing.

Lisa has been in trouble with the Police for shop lifting and general youth nuisance. She had a close friend from a family with criminal connections and it was always when they were together that Lisa found herself in trouble with the authorities. She was very easily led and even the negative attention she was receiving from her peers was better than receiving no attention at all.

Complaints about Lisa escalated ranging from being abusive to residents, throwing stones at windows and vandalism.

Lisa’s mum would make friends with other mums on the estate and when those relationships deteriorated and arguments took place, Lisa would become very protective towards her mum, join in any arguments and then more complaints would be made.

South Anglia Housing Officers spoke to the Police, Lisa’s school, her mum and Lisa about introducing an Acceptable Behaviour Contract as a means improving Lisa’s behaviour. Work also took place with Connexions in an attempt to find extra curricular activities for Lisa to give her other interests and hopefully keep her out of trouble. Unfortunately none of this worked.

In the meantime Lisa’s 16 year old sister had a baby and she returned to the family home so that her mother could support her. This placed pressure on an already crowded household and meant that Lisa had to share a bedroom with two of her brothers. The home situation quickly became chaotic.

Lisa’s mum was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with her family and their behaviour and as a cry for help she overdosed. This was the trigger for Social Care to become involved and the family soon found themselves working with the local Family Intervention Project. During this time Lisa’s behaviour worsened and her mum made the decision to place Lisa in Foster Care for a short time. The proviso of her being allowed to return to the family home was that her behaviour improved and she completely changed her circle of friends.

While all of this was going on Lisa’s mum was receiving anonymous threats and there was attempted arson attack on the family home.

Lisa returned home and since then she has completely turned her life around. She has made new friends, attends Army Cadets and is being more considerate and helpful towards her family.

Lisa sits on the management committee of a new young people’s after school club called Buzz 5. She has been involved in developing the rules of the club and raising funds by taking part in a fun run. She has also attended a street cricket coaching course. The feedback from the lead coach is that she will progress to make a very good coach indeed.

In recognition of how Lisa has worked to change her life for the better, South Anglia Housing has nominated her to be one of the Olympic torch bearers.

Lisa recognises that she used to be naughty and admits that it wasn’t much fun being in trouble all of the time. She now wants to give something back to her community to help other young people and hopefully prevent them from falling into the same trap.

Buzz 5 has been awarded start up funding from the South Anglia ASB and Community Development teams.

Last modified 06/12/11