He is the fourth eldest of six and his story is no different from the thousands of children who were placed in the care system back in the 70's & 80's    

Due to problems at home Tony and three of his siblings were placed in the care system, some for longer periods than others.  Tony spent all his adolescent years and early twenties in the care of the local authorities, there were several attempts to reunite him with his family but sadly they were unsuccessful.  By the age of eighteen Tony had spent twelve of those years in the care system.  He was placed in various homes across the county there were : 

-  Two  Foster families     -  Six  Children's homes     -  Two  Community homes     -  Two  Hostels

Twelve moves before the age of twenty-one, the custodial sentences he received in his adolescent years and let's not forget the bag of problems that used to follow him.

Tony made his first court appearance in 1976 at the age of eleven he continued a offending into his early twenty's like most people he came to a crossroads and made a decision that things had to change.

When asked "Tony, do you think you were really a product of the system?" "Yes I know I was and I'm not ashamed to say so." "Yes I come from a broken home and I lived in a dysfunctional family environment where my stepfather was violent towards me and my mother.

His adolescent years were spent surrounded by dysfunctional young people just like himself.  His start in life was out of his control, he didn't choose to put himself in that situation it was just how it was.  He could have been born into a completely different family and had a complete different outcome but in his own words "it is what it is and it was what it was."

From a hostel where he had three meals a day, laundry facilities, money monitoring and emotional support he went into a bedsit.  Prior to the hostel Tony spent two years in a community home which came to an end when they could no longer manage his behaviour.  For  the first time there was nobody telling him what to do, what time to go to bed, what time to be in, it was great.  He tells me now looking back on things and how he was so ill-equipped without the necessary skills to begin to try and live successfully and independently.  He had no idea because he was never taught and so things quickly began to spiral out of control.

He took a trip down memory lane which ended up landing Tony his dream job, he visited a community home he had once resided at.  This is now a refuge for women where the former headmaster's son was working.  He informed Tony that a couple of members of staff were still living nearby, so Tony paid them a visit, and one of the doors he knocked on belonged to Steve Hughes who was his old woodwork and metalwork teacher who he used to get on very well with.

He didn't  know at the time that he was being interviewed

Steve asked Tony what he was doing for work and he told him he was working with the youth justice team in Cambridge as a sessional worker.  He went on to explain how frustrated he was as a sessional worker as at times there was plenty of work and other times not so much and how he wanted to be part of the a team working in a residential setting, they spoke for some time.

Towards the end of Tony's time with him, Steve informed Tony that he was now a director of a children's home that worked with vulnerable young people with an array of issues such as challenging, behaviour, substance abuse, victims of child abuse and offenders.  He told Tony he might be able to help him and asked if Tony would like he could get somebody to contact him.?

Tony could not believe his luck and a few days later he was contacted by Jeff Benton who was in charge of recruitment for Park Side Care.  The conversation went well and he was asked to provide references and if satisfactory a time and date would be arranged for an interview with the home manager.  To this day he still has the two references.  With references from youth justice team and the YMCA Tony secured a position as a (RSWIT) residential social worker in training  where he went from strength to strength.  Tony then joined their crisis intervention team where it became quite clear very quickly that Tony had something to offer and became an integral part of the team.

Statistically speaking Tony would be one of those 

With very little hope of achieving a life without crime.  This would have been due to his precarious upbringing, lack of education, mixed with the physical and mental abuse he endured at the hands of his stepfather and people in positions of trust.  

Tony has overcome all the odds and is here today working with young people,  His number one objective is to get a particular group of young people to their crossroads earlier rather than later like it was for himself.

He tells me it's a great feline being an integral part of somebody's development watching a young person weather the storm, change their direction for the better.