Ivybridge man demands better support for care leavers accessing records

Between the ages of 18 months and four years, Matt Belcher from Ivybridge was in care in Devon before being adopted.

In 2024, he began trying to piece together what had happened during his early childhood and approached Devon County Council, but found that care leavers and people who had previously been adopted were left to read their care records completely unsupported.

Matt has since founded One Set of Footprints CIC, a community interest company dedicated to supporting adults who were formerly in care or adopted.

Matt explained what happened: “When I accessed my care records, I was given deeply traumatic information about my childhood with little emotional support.

“Reading those records had a devastating impact on my mental health and made me realise there is a significant gap in support for adults going through this process.

“People sometimes focus on my past addiction but that was not the cause of my difficulties. It was years of unresolved childhood trauma.”

Matt suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse which led to a pathway of addictions and trouble with the police.

He says Devon County Council provided no help: “When I tried to get answers I would just get dismissed and closed down.

“The people who deal with your care records and access information aren't even trauma trained, so they haven't got the ability to be able to deal with people who have suffered or deal with their outbursts if they have any.”

Matt was adopted at age four, but he had been traumatised by his earlier experiences, which affected his behaviour at home and at school.

Matt continued: “As a child I didn't get the support in school and didn't get support from social services. We were just completely left.”

As a result of his experience, Matt decided to form his community interest company, One Set of Footprints, which he is determined will smooth the path for people accessing their care and adoption records.

Matt describes the problems that people face: “There is no signposting to mental health services or therapy.

“You're just completely left alone to deal with this, and what's confusing to me is we have an agency called Adopt South West which does adoption summaries.

“They do that and then they'll have a social worker sit down with you and go through your adoption summary, but there is nothing going through your care records, which is obviously more traumatic.”

With One Set of Footprints, Matt works with social workers, therapists and other care-experienced people to put proper, gentle support around every part of the process, from the first thought of asking for their file to the long stretch of trying to make sense of it afterwards.

Even accessing information is far from straightforward, as Matt explains: “There are actually stages to be able to request your information because it's not as simple as going to them and saying I want my records.

“You have to break it down; otherwise, you won't get what you're looking for, and you're literally left completely alone.

“In 2024 I had my mental health breakdown, ended up getting falsely arrested and in hospital, both of which were at cost to the taxpayer.”

Matt believes the issue is not simply about his own experience, but about what he sees as a wider gap in support for people who are asked to confront difficult and sometimes traumatic parts of their childhood without adequate help.

He hopes One Set of Footprints can help fill that gap, while also encouraging local authorities and other organisations to look again at how people are supported when they access their records.

Devon County Council was asked to respond to Matt's concerns, it issued a statement saying: "Devon County Council (DCC) would like to acknowledge at the outset that there have been delays in responding to some of Mr Belcher's requests for information and enquiries associated with accessing historical records.

"We recognise that this has been a source of frustration for him and that the process has not always progressed as swiftly as either he or the Council would have wished.

"We have been working with Mr Belcher for some time and have apologised to him for these shortcomings.

"We have also listened to his concerns, which have informed Best Practice Guidance for the region for individuals wishing to obtain their care records.

"We would also like to recognise the courage and persistence that Mr Belcher has shown in pursuing these matters.

"He has consistently raised concerns about his personal experiences and what he considers to be shortcomings in the support available to individuals seeking access to their historical social care records.

"Whatever view one takes of the issues raised, these matters are of significant personal importance to him.

"The Council understands Mr Belcher's position regarding the level of support he believes should be available to people accessing highly sensitive records relating to their childhood and care history.

"We recognise that receiving and reading such information can be distressing and emotionally challenging - and have tried to assist Mr Belcher by signposting him to sources of support that are available to him and by directing him to the appropriate services where support may be obtained.

"The Council has also engaged with relevant services where appropriate to ensure that information about available support pathways has been considered and communicated to him.

"Our teams have dedicated time to Mr Belcher to listen to his concerns and support him through this process. We appreciate the issues he has raised and have also explained that there is no direct legal obligation to provide the specific type of support he seeks from the Council; therefore, the support Mr Belcher has expected has been with partner organisations linked to our services rather than in-house.

"This position has been explained to him through our correspondence with him and through responses provided to enquiries made on his behalf.

"The Council's position has been clearly explained to Mr Belcher, and we have advised him that if he remains dissatisfied with the current legal and policy framework governing support arrangements for individuals accessing historical social care records, the appropriate route for seeking wider change is through engagement with his elected representatives, as any change to the legal framework would ultimately be a matter for Parliament and Government rather than DCC."

For more information about One Set of Footprints, visit https://onesetoffootprintscic.com/