source: Socialist Worker

published: 14 October 2024

Image Credit: Peter Marshall at www.mylondondiary.co.uk

‘Me and my brothers came out of local authority care. We started our lives in the hands of the state, and two of us ended our lives at the hands of the state,” said Janet. “My family has been touched by every area of the state—the care system, the psychiatric system, the criminal justice system. And every time, it has let us down.

“My mum and dad came to Britain at the same time as the Windrush Generation. They came from Nigeria, expecting a better life. That’s how it was sold to my family.

“My mum had five little children. When it became too much for her to cope with, she had a psychiatric episode and her relationship with my dad broke down. Instead of helping her to separate from my dad and supporting her to care for her children, the state deported her. I have only ever seen a photo of her."

Christopher Alder was arrested on 1 April 1998 after an altercation outside a nightclub in Hull. Within a matter of hours, he was dead on the floor of Queen's Gardens Police Station.

In the moments before his death, CCTV footage taken from the custody suite showed laughing officers making monkey noises as they stood around the 37-year-old choking in a pool of his own blood.

“Us children were put into care. My youngest brother was just four months old.

The Hull Seaman’s and General Orphanage was actually a happy ­environment with lots of real care. But we were moved from there to a state care home with a very cruel regime. Us five plus six other children were placed there.

"We bonded because we faced mental and physical abuse. Staff lined us up to get the stick over our bare bottoms. I was questioning stuff, and I was more vocal, so I got the brunt of it. It was beyond anything children should go through. Later, I got hold of a document from that time that said ‘Janet will stand up for her brothers until the end’.

I was always looking out for my brothers."

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