I was interested to know how Carl viewed friendships and his answer demonstrated that friendships were not a priority for him in school. Instead he viewed adults to have more importance. I considered response to mean that he preferred older Carl’s friendships. not into young person friendships and more tend to hang around with I’m I’m adults and older was never my own peer group person and I liked people…I people older than me. (Carl) In opposition to response to friendships, Chloe viewed friends to be a key part Carl’ of her schooling. When asked what was important for Chloe in school her immediate response was her friends. got a little group of friends and we all have a laff {sic} and we all talk. I’ve M: So in your friendship group do you feel that your experiences are different to theirs? C: Yeah I do feel like different because none of them are in care. I’m (Chloe) Chloe is aware of the importance of her friendships and she is also aware of the differences of her experiences including her care experiences. I asked what was important in relationship to her friendships. C: like they make me feel important and I make them feel important and it’s what we do for each other. that’s M: Are they more important than adults? C: Yeah sort of but like you can fall out with friends and Pauses… no… it’s are always there for you. all…adults (Chloe) The above extract can be interpreted as Chloe having a clear sense of how she views her friends and she ascribes it to the way they make her feel and the way she makes them feel. Chloe uses the word and this can be viewed as ‘important’ powerful when you take account of the way that the young people described their experiences in care. To be made to feel and to make others feel when ‘important’ adults in your life, for whatever reason, are unable to do so. The meaning of friendship and the importance is recognised by Chloe whilst acknowledging that friendships are also susceptible to fall outs.
I was interested to know how Carl viewed friendships and his answer demonstrated that friendships were not a priority for him in school. Instead he viewed adults to have more importance. I considered Carl’s response to mean that he preferred older friendships. I’m not into young person friendships and I’m more tend to hang around with adults and older people…I was never my own peer group person and I liked people older than me. (Carl) In opposition to Carl’ response to friendships, Chloe viewed friends to be a key part of her schooling. When asked what was important for Chloe in school her immediate response was her friends. I’ve got a little group of friends and we all have a laff {sic} and we all talk. M: So in your friendship group do you feel that your experiences are different to theirs? C: Yeah I do feel like I’m different because none of them are in care. (Chloe) Chloe is aware of the importance of her friendships and she is also aware of the differences of her experiences including her care experiences. I asked what was important in relationship to her friendships. C: it’s like they make me feel important and I make them feel important and that’s what we do for each other. M: Are they more important than adults? C: Pauses… Yeah sort of but no… it’s like you can fall out with friends and all…adults are always there for you. (Chloe) The above extract can be interpreted as Chloe having a clear sense of how she views her friends and she ascribes it to the way they make her feel and the way she makes them feel. Chloe uses the word ‘important’ and this can be viewed as powerful when you take account of the way that the young people described their experiences in care. To be made to feel and to make others feel ‘important’ when adults in your life, for whatever reason, are unable to do so. The meaning of friendship and the importance is recognised by Chloe whilst acknowledging that friendships are also susceptible to fall outs.