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I have been working at Citizens Advice North Herts since May
2008. In that time, I have seen the positive effect our advice has on the people we advise. We help our clients to claim benefits, to deal with chronic debt, negotiate relationship breakdowns, avoid eviction - the list is endless. I feel very proud to be part of an organisation where everyone - volunteers and paid staff - work so hard to help people in our community.

My role involves preventing homelessness through money advice and representation at court. Recent news headlines, such as '300,000 British people are now homeless', 'rough sleeping up 134% since 2010', and '96 teenagers made homeless every day due to alcoholic parents' give us a sense of the scale of the hardship many people are facing. It is estimated that the average age of death for rough sleepers, is just 47, thirty years less than someone who has a home. In July, the Local Government Association reported that 120,540 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, up by 37% in three years.

Local possession actions by private and social landlords and mortgage lenders fill a possession day at court every fortnight. Policies such as freezing Local Housing Allowance (housing benefit for private rent), the benefit cap (that can mean some families lose more than £100 per week in housing benefit) and  the bedroom tax all can place unmanageable burdens on people who claim benefits, whether they work or not. Larger families are disproportionately affected by these measures and by the new 'two child limit' on Child Tax Credits. At Citizens Advice, we see lots of parents struggling to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. While we are aware that what we can do makes a positive change to childrens' lives we don't actually see them or hear from them.

Outside of Citizens Advice, I began training to work as a counsellor and qualified a few years ago. Placements in a hostel for the homeless and in a primary school have been deeply rewarding and I have realised how little we value children in society. At the Poem-a-thon, I want to give children a voice. I will read from Dan Hughes' book, It was that one moment, which speaks about the experiences of children in foster care.

Here is one of the three poems I hope to read:

The belly laugh

That winter day

when I was helping

my adoptive dad,

being nervous, of course –

I didn’t know that I was,

since I always was –

we were bringing in the

groceries from the car.

The still-white snow

over the ice

rose in the sky,

being drawn up by

my father’s rising feet.

He was lying there,

on his back with startled eyes,

surrounded by celery, bread, and toilet paper.

I thought to help him,

hoping to stop any

rising rage and so

be safe.

Reaching down

standing on more

snow over ice

my feet flew too

and I landed on my dad

and the bread, celery, and toilet paper.

Waiting for a scream,

I heard –

I heard a magical,

wonderful, mysterious

sound of laughter.

Dad’s body began shaking

and his laughter tumbled and rose

from him to embrace me.

My body began shaking as

I was bouncing with him

and the same sounds came from me

and mixed with dad’s

in the falling snow.

I never knew that I had them -

those belly laughs –

until dad called

and they came to him.

I’ve never been the same since

we found them.

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