Growing Up in Care: Rhiannon Hughes on Trauma, Survival and Sibling Separation (Part 1)

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Growing Up in Care – A Story That Needs to Be Heard

In Part 1 of this powerful two-part Able to Care Podcast special, Behaviour Specialist Andy Baker sits down with care-experienced professional Rhiannon Hughes to explore what life inside the care system really felt like from a child’s perspective.

Removed from her family at just six years old due to abuse and neglect, Rhiannon shares an honest, emotional account of entering foster care, being separated from her siblings, moving between the UK and Spain, living in residential children’s homes, and the lasting impact of trauma, grief, and instability.

Rather than focusing on policies or statistics, this conversation centres on lived experience—offering valuable insight into what children in care truly need from the adults around them.

In This Episode You’ll Discover:

• What entering the care system feels like through a child’s eyes.
• The emotional impact of sibling separation and repeated moves.
• How abuse, neglect and instability affect trust and attachment.
• The importance of consistency, patience and emotionally available adults.
• What professionals often misunderstand about trauma-informed care.
• How resilience develops—and the hidden emotional cost of survival.
• The differences between residential care in the UK and Spain.
• Why preparing young people for independence should begin long before they leave care.
• The challenges of leaving care and facing homelessness.
• How lived experience inspired Rhiannon’s mission to improve recruitment within children’s services.

Why This Conversation Matters

Children entering care lose far more than a home. They often lose routines, relationships, familiar surroundings, siblings, and the sense of safety that every child deserves. Rhiannon explains how consistency from trusted adults can make all the difference, even during the most challenging moments.

Andy and Rhiannon also explore why behaviour should always be understood in the context of a child’s experiences, and why trauma-informed practice means seeing beyond the behaviour to the unmet needs underneath.

Who Should Listen?

• Foster carers and kinship carers
• Residential childcare professionals
• Social workers
• Teachers and teaching assistants
• Behaviour support practitioners
• Parents supporting children with trauma
• Anyone wanting to better understand the care experience

Part One of a Two-Part Conversation

This is the first of two episodes with Rhiannon Hughes. In Part 1, we explore her remarkable personal journey through childhood trauma and the care system. In Part 2, we continue the conversation by examining how her lived experience has shaped her professional mission to improve recruitment, leadership, and care standards across children’s services.

A Conversation Rooted in Hope

Although this episode discusses difficult experiences including abuse, neglect, homelessness and sibling separation, it is ultimately a story of hope, resilience and purpose. Rhiannon’s experiences have become the foundation for helping improve the lives of future generations of care-experienced children.

Recommended Training

If you’re supporting children affected by trauma, attachment difficulties or adverse childhood experiences, you may also find our Youth Mental Health Training Course valuable.