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Friend not foe Recording stories one
Supporting meaningful outcome-focussed recording
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in social care
Recording stories one Fran’s Story
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It was gold, it really was
This is one of two personal story videos in
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our series to support the written resource,
Friend not foe.
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The resource was produced to support meaningful
outcome-focussed recording.
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This is Fran’s story, titled “It was gold,
it really was.”
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Fran’s story supports the principle of outcome-focussed
recording from cradle to grave.
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Fran tells us about accessing his records
as an adult from his adoption as an infant.
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Fran never met his birth parents.
He lived in a Barnardo’s children’s home
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for the first few years of his life.
He still has difficult memories of that time.
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Fran ended up being fostered by a couple who
then adopted him at the age of sixteen.
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He didn’t look for his birth parents as
he didn’t want to upset his new family.
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Later, Fran left home, got married and had
children of his own.
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When he was in his thirties, he decided to
look up his birth records.
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So he made an appointment with Barnardo’s
to go and read his file.
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Fran told us that reading his file was an
amazing experience.
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Three things stood out for Fran. Firstly,
he found out that his mum knew everything
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that had happened to him as it had been recorded
by the social worker right through. Lots of
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things had happened to him.
He’d been in trouble with the police and
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at one point had been stabbed.
It meant a lot to Fran that his mum knew about
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his life.
Fran describes himself as quite a respectable
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artist.
He does painting with Formula One teams.
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The second thing that stood out for Fran from
his record was that his mum was a brilliant
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artist.
He was very excited by that discovery because
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of the connection he felt to his mum.
The third thing that stood out for Fran was
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that for the first time in his life, he saw
a picture of himself as a baby.
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It reminded him of his son as a baby, with
a Mohican haircut.
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Fran was grateful to the social worker who
took the time to record that information.
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It filled a gap for him and he told us, “It
was gold, it really was.”