I have worked for many years as a glorified babysitter within the Out Of Home Care sector. I get to look after kids in state-funded homes. These kids are not able to live with their parents/families either because their own behaviour makes them too dangerous for their family to look after, such as when they sexually abuse their siblings, or because their family is unable to care for them, such as when Mum and Dad get busted for pimping their kids for drug money. Occasionally we get kids who simply have no living relatives left who are able to act as guardian, but this is rare. The majority of kids we get are deeply traumatised, extremely emotionally reactive, and hypervigilant, with no impulse control. Despite having more balls and self-awareness than most adults I have met, they can't cope emotionally with the word "No." Bless -em.

They have magnificent tantrums. A coworker (J) once called me in the middle of the night, because the kid she was looking after, high on chrome (paint fumes), had smashed her way through the house with a large, nail-studded "club" she had acquired from a nearby building site. Everything in the house was smashed. windows, oven door, plasterboard walls, tv, fishtank, panels and windscreen of the work car. J had called me for a quick chat to calm herself down while she waited for her line manager and the police to arrive. The kid had, mercifully, chosen to run for it instead of taking the club to J's head. J explained that earlier that afternoon, the manager had advised the hardware shop where this kid had been scoring spray paint, that the kid was using the paint to get high, and asked the shop owner to refuse sale. When the kid had rocked up later to get some paint, the shopkeeper said "no." The kid twigged that her carers had spoken to the shopkeeper to cut off her supply, and she went back to the house and threw a tantrum. This one kid's antics were the stuff of legend within my industry for many years, and I heard a couple of years ago that she has become a well-behaved and functional adult, and a huge advocate for the rights of kids in Out Of Home Care. Quite a 180 turn.

More recently, I have had the pleasure of correcting a kid while he unleashed a stream of verbal abuse at me. He was so apoplectic, the only nouns he could muster were "faggot" and "poofter," while I believed that "bitch" and "slut" would be more gender appropriate. He smiled when I pointed this out. Then he smashed the tv.
(Boodicka, Mon 23 Jul 2012, 13:17, 7 replies)

christ. anyone working in the care sector deserves a medal

( cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Mon 23 Jul 2012, 18:41, closed)

I bet you get loads of sex!!
In all honesty though - I like a story that involves smashing the shit out things.

Especially back doors - oh, it was the oven door - doh!

poor fish though!
(Clit Ninja is having a white space party!, Mon 23 Jul 2012, 19:58, closed)

This ^

is exactly the kind of crude, inappropriate, comment that makes B3TA worth reading.

Thank you.
(BeatsWork, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 6:17, closed)

^^^^ This with knobs on.
I've been punched, kicked, bitten (and required tetanus jabs), name-called, spat at, threatened with all manner of household objects.
You just grit your teeth and bear it. There are good days too. For example. Sat night involved me taking one of the kids to see the new Batman film and get paid for the privilege.
( Maffers I flow kinda strange like Spina Bifida footprints, Mon 23 Jul 2012, 21:33, closed)

Colorado?
(MayorBoris, Mon 23 Jul 2012, 22:55, closed)

Rocky Mountain hiiiiiiggggghhhhhh
Colorado.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 9:16, closed)

That was Friday.

( Maffers I flow kinda strange like Spina Bifida footprints, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 13:21, closed)