Name (required):

  Expression ^{(Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)}

  E-mail address (required):

* Type your message here:
>I've just stumbled upon this board. I was sent to >Kneesworth Hall in, I think, 1959 or 60, for being "in >moral danger" after being sent to remand homes then >placed in care of the local authority. I ran away from >the childrens homes repeatedly, and I really think >they didnt know what to do with me. I was really >mentally ill, as a result of the abuse I'd received >from paedophiles and from poor family circumstances, >but in those days no-one seemd to care very much. I >saw a child psychiatrist once, but it all seemed very >much like an undesrved punishment to me. > >I left Kneesworth (reluctantly) in 1962, and was sent >back from whence I came, untreated. I had received >some education. I wasn't very popular with the other >boys, but remember the staff with affection. I was >treated with respect and kindness by them, perhaps for >the first time in my life. > >I eventually got the treatment I needed, at the Home >Office's expense, at Finchden Manor. Anyone interested >in that place can find it via google. > >When i left Finchden I was 20. I spent some time >homeless in Birmingham and London then, through the >generosity of friends, got a job, then a place of my >own (a bed-sit) and began to build a life. > >I've had minor problems with the law in later life, >mainly in times of high stress, but nowadays I'm >pushing 60 and a respectable member of society. > >For me, being sent to approved school was a mixed >blessing. I gained a general education, learnt many >useful (and legal :)skills, and began to trust adults >again. If I'd not have gone, there would have been no >way that I could have gone to Finchden, and that saved >my life. > >If anyone else went to Kneesworth it would be good to >compare notes.

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.