Joe Swash: ‘The foster care system needs to change’

Swash, who made his name on EastEnders and went on to win both I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here and Dancing On Ice, fronts a BBC1 film based on a subject close to his heart: the UK care system.

Joe Swash: Teens in Care is a personal project, explains Swash, 41 – his mum, Kiffy, began fostering some 15 years ago. “I’ve watched it and been involved with the process for years,” says the star, the father of four children with TV personality Stacey Solomon, and stepfather to her two older children.

“My mum’s last child, Daniel, he came to us when he was eight, and now he is 18 and in university. So I’ve always been mindful that although Dan has us, not everyone is so lucky. And what happens to them?

“So when [the BBC] came to me with the idea for the documentary, it just felt like a perfect fit. I don’t know the ins and outs of the foster system, so it was interesting to see how it all works.”

His deep dive was further spurred on by the Independent Review Of Children’s Social Care in England, which having been commissioned by the Government in 2019, published its long-awaited findings last year, concluding that children’s social care in England is at breaking point.

While the whole system requires change, Swash’s 60-minute watch focuses on teens over 16 (“We would have needed a series to go through the whole system”), currently the largest growing group in both child protection and care, with an increase of 37 per cent in the last decade alone.

“The idea is to show what growing up as a teenager in care is like and highlight the challenges these teenagers face, where the system is going wrong and where it could be made better,” says Swash, who spends time with teens in foster care, others in residential care and some who, at 18, are now trying to make it alone.

“The system needs to change, and as a society, we owe it to them.”

He’s keen to spotlight this particular demographic, as for many people “when their minds go to the care system, they immediately think of young kids, toddlers, and babies. But there are kids of all ages in care that need to be looked at; they’ve all got their own special needs.”

He adds: “At 18 to 21, I wasn’t a fully grown adult. I couldn’t handle responsibilities. I needed my mum and my extended family there to help me. So, you can only imagine what these kids are going through when they’re forced into the world at 18 [after time in care]. They haven’t been prepared for it very well and now they’ve got to try and live it.”

“There’s got to be a better way to introduce them into adulthood than to just cut ties with them.”

He adds: “[I meet] Karl, who is at an age where there’s a lot of bravado. He’s quite easily misled and I really hope that someone gets hold of him and makes him focus on what he’s doing. There’s so much potential with Karl, but it could go either way with these young adults. I hope with Karl, it goes the right way.”

In addition to spending time with teens, Swash meets experts and policy-makers first-hand to ask what they are doing to reform the system. One such figure is Claire Coutinho, the minister for children, who explains the Government’s plan of action following the sobering independent review.

Swash knows results will take time: “When we first started, I honestly was like, ‘We can change the laws, we can change the whole process, we can really make a difference’. But I had to refocus myself and think, ‘Well, we’re not going to make a massive change. But what we can do is shine a light on it, and focus people’s minds and go, ‘Look this is happening around us’.

“We can walk around with blinkers on and take no notice of it, but the issue is there. I’d love people to get together. I’d love there to be some sort of movement and maybe put a bit of pressure on the Government to do things a bit faster. That would be ideal. You never know.”

One thing Swash hopes is that his journey will encourage those considering fostering or similar to scope out how they could help – big or small. “Obviously, people are busy and have their own lives and families and jobs, so if you haven’t got the time to do it full time, you can still help,” he says. “There are a lot of charities out there that are dying for people to come and help them.”

He’s not ruled out foster care in his future, saying it is something he and Solomon have discussed. “We just said, when our kids get a bit older, and they’re not reliant so much on us, it’s a subject that we’ll talk about and maybe dip our toes into.”

“Me and Stacey have been together for a long time now, so she’s watched my mum’s journey, she’s watched Daniel’s journey. She’s been a massive support.”

In the meantime, will he continue on his path for change? “Well, I’m always going to be involved in this subject because of Daniel, because of my mum. I’d love to revisit this documentary too and revisit these kids in a couple of years and find out how they actually got on. What their experience of leaving the care system was.”

“These kids that have been in the care system, they should be spoken to.

“If they’re going to change it, get the kids that have lived and breathed it to tell them where it’s gone wrong.”

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