Anne and Terry Panks
Headline:
Thank goodness for the house of teen tearaways
Synopsis:
As society struggles to deal with its disaffected youth, one remarkable couple have turned their family home into a refuge for wayward young men, and are helping them to turn their lives around.
With his cropped hair, beady eyes and snarling lips, Nathaniel Greaves looks like what he is – a dangerously disaffected youth.
At 18, he already has convictions for assault and is currently electronically tagged after being arrested during a burglary and found in possession of a knife and a gun.
He left school without a single qualification and his mother, a lone parent with three younger children, threw him out several months ago, saying she could no longer cope with his destructive tantrums.
Nathaniel comes from Wythenshawe – one of the most extreme pockets of social depravation in Britain.
In this ten-square-mile suburb of Greater Manchester, crime and unemployment rates are double the national average, and a combination of family breakdown, poverty and inadequate schooling has bred a violent gang culture that Nathaniel admits to having been involved in.
What is society to do with teenagers like Nathaniel, who may be disaffected, but are also highly vulnerable?
The harsh, unpalatable truth, of course, is that there is no easy answer. Police patrol the streets and politicians are parachuted in to commune with the hoodies (it was in Wythenshawe last year that David Cameron was memorably photographed while a 17-year-old made a gun gesture behind his back).
Meanwhile, Manchester City Council is spearheading a ten-year £130 million regeneration plan for the area. ....
- Publish date:
- 23 November 2008
- Author:
- Catherine O'Brien
- Source:
- Mail on Sunday
- Media:
