Taking
Care
A
range of powerful and surprising programming across BBC Television,
Radio and BBCi tells moving and inspiring stories of children growing
up in care and of adult care leavers who have achieved personal
and professional success.
Seetha
Kumar, Head of Lifeskills, BBC, writes...
 "Over
the past year, I have met many people who've experienced care. Feisty,
lively and outspoken, they want passionately not to be seen as victims
or villains.
'Please
don't make the programmes dark and dismal,' they said. 'They have
to feel uplifting.'
Taking
Care is a major new season across the BBC exploring a different
kind of childhood: their childhood.
Told
largely through personal stories, it offers an insight into their
lives as well as those whose lives they touch, from the parent whose
child goes into care, to the many strangers who enter, and leave,
their lives.
Many
care leavers believe care stigmatises them, and labels them.
We
understand little about this world as it's not a subject most of
us really have to grapple with or think about. Few know what protection
society gives these children.
Life
for young people leaving care is tough without the support of a
permanent family.
Statistics
show that 56 per cent of care leavers have no qualifications whatsoever
and a quarter of all prisoners have been in care.
There
is often an on-going cycle of care: the children of women who have
spent time in care are themselves two and a half times more likely
to go into care than their peers.
Through
a range of powerful and surprising programming across BBC Television,
Radio and BBCi, Taking Care goes behind the statistics to tell the
moving and inspiring stories both of children currently growing
up in care and adult care leavers who have gone on, despite adversity,
to achieve both personal and professional success.
In
so doing, Taking Care aims to challenge some of our perceptions
of care and show what we can all do to help break the cycle of care.
 The
season includes powerful documentaries; an original and surprising
drama on BBC TWO with Billie Piper and Jane Lapotaire; and
storylines in popular dramas including EastEnders, Casualty,
Doctors and Neighbours.
And,
in a Tracy Beaker special, Tracy finally gets to meet her
mum and find out if she really is a glamorous Hollywood star.
I hope
you enjoy Taking Care and find it both engaging and thought-provoking."
Seetha
Kumar, Head of Lifeskills
Press
pack
The
Taking Care press pack is available below in PDF
format.
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may require Adobe Acrobat Software to read PDF files which can be
obtained here.
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tool to magnify the text.
Taking
Care press pack (301 KB)
Taking
Care website
www.bbc.co.uk/takingcare
Transmission
information
The
Taking Care season runs across two weeks from Sunday 15 February
2004.
Programmes
in the first week include the Billie Piper drama Bella and the
Boys on BBC TWO, 10.00pm, Sunday 15 February; Living the
Legacy on BBC ONE, 10.35pm, Wednesday 18 February; and No
Place Like Home on BBC ONE, 9.00pm, Thursday 19 February.
Full
listing of programmes
All
the BBC's digital services are now available on Freeview,
the new free-to-view digital terrestrial television service, as well
as on satellite and cable. Freeview
offers the BBC's eight television channels, interactive services
from BBCi, as well as 11 national BBC radio networks.
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