She spent her early years growing up in Barnet “in confusion and sense of alienation”— placed in the care system at four years old and being moved from home to home.
The woman — identified as ‘Jaclyn’ — remembers being subjected to sexual abuse one summer by a school caretaker who she says promised to take care of her, after her mother died at 26 from tuberculosis and her father had left the country.
“I was left on my school steps waiting for somebody to collect me for the summer holidays,” she recalls. “The caretaker said I could stay with him and his wife.
“But he used to come into my room every night to sexually abuse me.
“I felt alone and scared and ran away and spent a night sleeping on the streets when I was around seven or eight years old. That made me realise that I didn’t really belong anywhere. It stayed with me for the rest of my life.”
Jaclyn has fleeting memories of both kind and cruel families — constantly being uprooted and left feeling like an outsider.
“My identity had been stripped from me, piece by piece,” she added. “The loss of my mother, my father’s family abandoning me and the abuse left me with a fractured sense of self.”
The NSPCC’s Barnet branch organises fundraising to run services like Childline to help children like Jaclyn when they need support.
People can volunteer, join a fundraising group or become local board members through their businesses. The branch also runs a programme for children recovering from abuse.
The charity’s Chloe Cuthill said: “All too often we hear experiences like Jaclyn’s, whether it’s recent or a long time ago.
“We welcome anyone who is interested in getting involved and supporting our events in Barnet.”
The NSPCC Helpline for anyone concerned about a child, or to listen to anyone who has experienced abuse as a child, is on 0808-800 5000, or email help@nspcc.org.uk.
Children and young people can contact Childline 24/seven on 0800-1111 or online at “childline.org.uk”.
The NSPCC’s London regional hub is at Alexandra Ciardi House, 7-8 Greenland Place, Camden Town, telephone 020-3772 9905.
