“Even when I was younger, I never wanted to be at home. I felt like me and my mum had nothing and I didn’t want to be in the house just in case we had an argument, so I’d stay out really, really late. When I was about nine I really couldn’t cope at home and ended up putting myself in care for a while because of my mum and her drinking. All I really wanted was to go to school and be a normal little girl.”
Frances, November 2010
In September 2011, at age 16, Frances gives birth to her own daughter, Mia. Not wanting the baby to be placed on the child protection register, as she was, Frances accepts Social Services’ offer of a place in supported accommodation for vulnerable new mothers. It’s a new start for Frances and her baby and Her First Year charts their progress.
Her First Year is by photographer and writer, Len Grant
His latest project is about undocumented migrant families and young people: Life Without Papers
Her First Year 