I begged to be put in an institution after prostitute mother slept with men in my room
A WOMAN who walked into a police station aged nine to check herself into a youth care facility has spoken of the horrific abuse she suffered during her years in the system.
Hope Daniels, now 50, was raised by alcoholic parents and her mother was a working prostitute, bringing clients back to their home and into the bedroom she shared with Hope.
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Hope and her siblings often had no food and their home was cold and dirty.
In desperation, at the age of nine, Hope took her siblings by bus to Stoke Newington police station from their home in Hackney, East London, demanding that she be cared for.
She spent several happy years in an orphanage, but in her early teens she was transferred to closed wards where she was physically, mentally and sexually abused.
At the age of 15, she was manipulated by a man twice her age. He promised to marry her, plied her with alcohol, and forced her to have sex with him.
Shockingly, after discovering the incident, authorities blamed Hope and transferred her to a foster home that specializes in troubled teens, where she felt like an outsider.
Thirty-five years later, Hope is a proud mother and grandmother and is a youth care advocate working with healthcare and education professionals across the UK.
Hope, a bestselling author, has written her fourth book about her experiences, This Isn’t Love, which was published in August.
Hope from Southampton says: “My whole childhood, growing up, all I wanted was a family.
“I’ve been through tough times, but my story has a happy ending; now I have the family I always dreamed of and I’m using my trauma to help other children.
“I want to be the voice for those I never had.”
Hope grew up in Hackney, East London, with three siblings, where she had a difficult start in life.
Hope says: “I had a single bed in my parents’ bedroom and I remember her regularly bringing men into the bedroom.
“My father knew what was happening, it was no secret, it was a way to get money.
“I didn’t know what they were doing, but I hated it.
“We were severely neglected, but somehow we managed to slip through the cracks in the early 1970s.
“There was rarely food in the house and I learned, like my father, to steal groceries so that my younger brothers and I would have something to eat.
“I got to know all the charities in Hackney and we would go out for food or clothes together.
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“When I was nine, our house was vandalized by neighbors protesting my mother’s work. There was broken glass everywhere.
“At that time my mother was in prison and my father was drinking a lot, he couldn’t cope with it.
“I knew this was a turning point. I took my brothers on the bus to the local police station, I walked up to the counter and said, ‘I’m not going home until you take us in.’
“I was terrified, but something had to change.”
Hope spent three years in an orphanage, but when her behavior deteriorated, she was transferred to a closed ward.
She says: “The staff were cruel.
I wanted so much to be normal, to have a family of my own
Hope Daniels
“I kept peeing my pants out of fear and they laughed at me and showed it to everyone. I had to wash my own sheets by hand.
“One night they made me eat a kebab from the bin, and it wasn’t just the other girls, the staff were watching too.
“I kept trying to run away and every time they caught me, I was put in isolation, literally a padded cell. I was only 13 years old. I was just a child.”
At the age of 15, Hope was introduced to a man who was married to one of her former friends.
He began hitting on her and encouraged her to leave the nursing home and stay with him in London.
After pumping her full of drink and drugs, he forced her to have sex with him.
Hope says: “I really thought he was my boyfriend.
“I believed he would marry me and felt so lucky that he had chosen me. I just didn’t think marriage and happiness happened to girls like me.
“I wanted so much to be normal, to have a family of my own, and I was grateful to him.”
When the care staff discovered the “relationship,” Hope blamed her and accused her of being a home wrecker.
She was quickly transferred to a foster home, where she was ostracized, forced to eat separately and use a second living room, separate from the rest of the family.
She says, “The living room had nice furniture and a nice television.
“In the foster children’s living room there was a portable TV that didn’t work and was also dirty.
“We were given different food, often past its sell-by date. The flour was crawling with weevils. All the chocolate and sweets were locked up, for the real children of the family.
“I broke the lock and stole all the chocolate bars and distributed them among the foster children. I couldn’t stand the injustice of it, even then.”
At the age of 17, Hope deliberately became pregnant to escape the system.
She had another daughter and a son from the same partner before they separated.
HOW TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE
Child abuse includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect.
You can read more about the signs of child abuse. You do not have to be certain that a child or young person has been abused. You can safely report a suspicion.
If you are concerned that a child or young person is at risk of abuse or is being abused, please contact the childcare team at their local community.
You will be asked to fill in your details, but you can choose not to share them.
Call 999 if the child is in immediate danger.
If it is not an emergency, you can Report the crime online or call 101.
Calling 999 or 101 is free.
Source: Gov.uk
Determined to make something of her life, she trained as a probation officer and became a committed advocate for young people in youth care.
Hope says: “It wasn’t easy raising children on my own. I had no role models and no support from my family.
“I was too strict in many ways, I didn’t let them out of my sight because I was afraid they would be abused.
“But I also spoiled them, I went overboard with Christmas and birthdays because I didn’t want them to suffer like I did. I bought so much food; my cupboards were overflowing.
“I have a great relationship with my children and grandchildren, we are so close and that gives me the greatest pleasure.
“I’ve struggled a lot with my mental health, but my children have supported me through it.”
Hope is now a freelance consultant, advising professionals in health, education and social care across the UK.
She has also rebuilt her relationship with her mother, who was just as much of a victim as she was. Her father is dead.
Hope received an apology from Lambeth City Council regarding her time in secure units.
Hope says, “Mom and I are completely back together. I understand that she made mistakes, but I also understand that she had a lot of problems of her own.
“I can’t change the past, but I can move forward by forgiving.”
Hope’s book, This Isn’t Love, was published in August this year by Mirrorbooks and is available on Amazon.
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