Putting down Roots

Yesterday I collected a palm tree I had purchased on Ebay very cheaply (not my daughter on the right). The previous owner told me that the tree had gone from pillar to post, as he had moved house numerous times and its current environment was no longer supporting it, due to an exposed coastal climate and because it needed to be planted in the ground, and not a barrel. He told me that he paid £360 for the plant 10 years ago.

People becoming uprooted.

The mission of planting the above got me thinking while I was digging a big hole about how I had once uprooted myself within the community, having spent most of my teens and earlier twenties in children's home, detention centre, borstals and prisons. At this time most people I knew was involved in criminal behaviour and for me it was a cycle of in and out of institutions, and living with no fixed address and moving from pillar to post. 

Then instead of going back to prison, Leeds Crown Court surprised me by sending me to Cardigan House Probation Hostel, which became a turning point for me. I didn't like living in Leeds at first, but coming to the end of myself, and with  support and assistance I began to take positive moves away from the situation I was in. There in that hostel a PO and PSO duo (Dave & Lynne) were both challenging and inspiring. Since then I have always wanted to work in a Probation hostel, but sadly all my attempts have failed.

Probation has a large army of life-changers and inspiring people such as Georgina - the following lady:

Added assistance came to me from many people over the years, such as a married couple, both ex-police officers, who gave me a place in their home for over a year while I was working towards going to college. 

Margaret Thatcher said back in the 1980's, "I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

I would say that some people need welfare, support and assistance, and are not in a position to do their duty and meet their obligations without other's working on their behalf. I would say that it is the governments job to work on behalf of everybody, and not just the privileged few!

Probation work needed.

All I can say is there was considerable work involved in getting my palm tree into a place where it can put down roots and hopefully thrive. 

We are all individuals, which make up society and I believe that government should not wash its hands of those who have been cast adrift, with no stake, and who have become refugees from mainstream society. 

As Jim Brown says Probation "clients are not widgets and cannot be processed as such. There isn't a day that goes by that doesn't see the government making the process of rehabilitation that much more difficult for probation clients. Many have serious health problems, but Atos assessments pronounce them fit for work. A lot lead chaotic lives due to mental health issues or drug and alcohol dependency and often miss appointments. They get sanctioned by Job Centre Plus and have no money. They become homeless quickly due to rent arrears brought on by the bedroom tax or any number of other new taxes being dreamt up by Chris Grayling."

We need democracy. We need a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

It's no good saying look after yourselves and meet your obligations. Some People need support and assistance. Some people are uprooted and can't meet their obligations and duties without appropriate interventions. I'm proud that I have now worked in my Probation Trust for nearly 15 years, and I meet many people who I have been privileged to support and assist with putting down roots.

Since the 1980's the Probation Service has gradually been uprooted itself, with dictates and under resourcing by successive governments, and increased governmental controls have pushed less meaningful contact with those people who need support. 

David Scott, the former chair of the Probation Chiefs Association in 2009 said, "The emasculation of the Probation Service over the past ten years has been accompanied by political apathy and public indifference. At the beginning of this Millennium there was much talk of giving Probation a national voice and a strengthened role in the Criminal Justice System. At the end of the decade, Probation has been pushed from pillar to post. Far from having a national voice, the organisation, which at any one time supervises 200,000 plus offenders in the community, is not even represented in its own right in key national decision-making fora but subsumed within a vast Prison Service dominated bureaucracy. A national asset is being squandered".

The asset has been squandered and successive governments have gradually put the Probation Service  on a  Restraining Order in regards to the service needed. Now the current state of affairs is that the Probation Trusts are to be, in the words of a comment made on my blog, "pulled up by the roots and chucked aside" by this Government. 

Putting down Roots.

In a way, I was like my palm tree, uprooted and with stunted foilage, which required work to get it planted in a place where it can put down roots and flourish. My wife says it wasn't "love at first sight" but "plastic black bag at first sight" - as I walked into college for 4 year course with all my possessions, shortly after failing my English o'level.

I am thankful and proud for being able to have an input in the work of probation, but I'm even more thankful for the output of the Probation Service in general.

It is very sad to see the demolition of yet another public service. A public service which is needed, for supporting and assisting people who have been uprooted and who have no stake in society, as well as for it's public protection work. Some people do need meaningful work, in regards to public protection work and in supporting people to put down roots, so that they can come to a place where they are able to undertake their duties and obligations as citizens within society.

William Buck sums things up well when he  says “We're essentially seeing people forced into refugee status. The experts say the major thing in preventing recidivism is to allow offenders to rebuild their lives, put down roots. But because of feel-good, poorly-thought-out, knee-jerk reactions by politicians, the effect is to increase recidivism.”

Phew! Operation Palm tree is now behind me, and it is now planted in my garden, after struggling and digging to get the hole big enough for it's base. My family laugh, and some of my colleagues too, as I have names for my plants, and my new and tallest palm is called, "Georgina".  But alas, would you believe it, I too find myself on a Restraining Order ;o) My wife has said that there are to be no more Palm Tree's in our Garden. Wife's not fair;o)