Documentary · Family

Split Up in Care: Life without Siblings

Ashley John-Baptiste is a BBC reporter who grew up in foster care and spent most of his life believing he was an only child. That is until his mid-20s, when he received a life-changing message. A man contacted him on social media telling him that he was his brother. As it was with Ashley, some children in care grow up completely unaware of their siblings. More common, however, are cases where looked-after children do know about their siblings – but are split up once in care. The law says they should stay together if it's safe and appropriate to do so, but around half of sibling groups in care in the UK are separated. To find out why this is happening, Ashley hears from young people and children whose lives have been changed forever by the impact of separation.