1. I look out my window & it has finally stopped raining. It has been grim, roads flooded, cold, but I have been warm & dry inside. I look again & I think of all those on the streets with no warm haven. Many are very vulnerable young people. Many of those care experienced>

2. I'll have enough to eat today. We have food in the house. We have drinks. We have means to heat our food. We can afford to keep our house warm. So many don't have food or warmth, or must choose between eating & heating. Many have small children. Too many are care experienced>

3. I won't be alone today. I have loved ones in the house or a few miles away. I have means to contact them if I feel lonely or upset. So many folk live alone, isolated, lonely, without family or anyone who cares. Too many of those folk are care experienced.>

4. Today my wife & I will be engaging on mundane domestic tasks & managing our affairs to ensure our future is comfortable. We take it for granted. Yet for so many people, there are no feelings of positive future, of hope, of love. Too many of those folk are care experienced.

5. In my 70's now I recall past times. Of being 18, discharged from care, nowhere to live, no future, no hope, no love. Nobody knew if I was alive or dead. Of being homeless, cold & broke. That was life for many careleavers in my day. For many care experienced folk, it still is>

6. I was in care in the 50's/60's. Brutal times, but we've come a long way since then - but have we? For many care experienced people, some very young, life means homelessness, struggling daily, anxious about coping, frightened of abuse, feeling unworthy, uncared for, unloved>

7. I'm minded that a Care Review is approaching & once again we'll seek to know what care experienced people need. Seems to me many will want what I wanted in the 60's & we've heard care experienced folk say so many times since. To feel loved, respected, valued, care for.>

8. To feel people look after you because they care & not because they are paid. To feel people won't stop caring when you reach 16, 18, 21 or even 25 & they no longer have to. To feel safe that someone is there for you in your darkest moments. Can a Care Review deliver that?

9. The care review will be about systems, law, procedures, resources, money. Loads of worthies will speak wisely & will agree how awful it is & go home to their warm houses. & too many care experienced people will carry on as before. Will there be any room for love in the Review?