MY SOCIAL WORKER’S DECISION TO GO ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR ME CHANGED MY LIFE”
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n the months since its release, Split Up In Care: Life Without Siblings has made tidal waves through the industry - provoking a national conversation among social workers, politicians, and those with personal experience. The BBC documentary, presented by broadcast journalist Ashley JohnBaptiste, explores the lives of children and young people who have been forever changed by the impact of sibling separation while in care. For journalist Ashley, this is something on which he has unique insight. Ashley was just two years old when he himself entered the care system, moving between four foster families and a residential care home before leaving care at 18. Having grown up believing himself to be an only child, Ashley reveals he was stunned when,
in his mid-twenties, he was contacted by a man claiming to be his brother. “It was such a shock,” Ashley recalls. “I’D BEEN TOLD BY SOCIAL WORKERS THAT I WAS AN ONLY CHILD, SO WHEN MY BROTHER REACHED OUT, I WAS CONFUSED. I READ HIS MESSAGE OVER AND OVER BEFORE RESPONDING.” As Ashley and his brother spoke, they established they had the same dad, but different mothers, and that there were more siblings out there. Most overwhelming for Ashey was the discovery that his brother lived close by, in the same area. Despite the discovery, Ashley and his brother didn’t make plans to meet in person, and their first meeting, a few years later, was a chance one - “a
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serendipitous moment,” Ashley calls it. “My partner had given birth to our daughter in April of 2020, and we were at the hospital for a check-up when I passed this man near the entrance,” he says. “I recognised him straightaway, from his pictures on social media. “I called out to him sheepishly and, to my relief, he recognised me too. We had a really organic exchange, and spoke for what seemed like ages. It felt like we knew each other. “This happened during lockdown, at a time when a lot of people were reflecting on their lives, and taking the chance to redress things from their past. Meeting my brother for the first time in person sparked all these questions for me. I’d known care experienced people who had been estranged from their siblings,
