Rose — Breaking Britain

Rose

Rose has lived in Blackpool for most of her life. She was born there, grew up there with her twin sister, Sarah, and lives there now with her fourteen-year-old daughter Millie.

Because of difficult family circumstances, Rose didn’t have a very stable upbringing. Her mother died when she was three, so Rose and Sarah were brought up by their father. He was a harsh and abusive character and at the age of ten he lost custody of them. Rose and Sarah went to live with their aunt Phyllis, which unfortunately didn’t work out, so the girls were taken into care and separated. Rose found this particularly hard and hated living in a care home. Eventually, Rose and Sarah got back together and returned to Blackpool. It was fine for a while, but Rose found Sarah too bossy to live with so she moved into her own place locally.

Because of her stressful childhood Rose suffers from depression and anxiety, for which she’s taken a whole variety of anti-depressants. When it’s got really bad, she’s been admitted to hospital.

At present Millie has been refusing to go to school for several months. She doesn’t see the point of it. This has meant that Rose has had to go to court several times and has been sanctioned and punished for Millie’s behavior. Recently Rose was put on a tag and had to be at home by 8pm every evening. The last time I was at their house, the school and social services came around demanding to know why Millie wasn’t at school. They know why, but told Rose that, because she was already on probation from the tagging, they would escalate things and she would have to go to court again. They told her that this would probably result in a prison sentence and Millie would have to go into a foster home. How that provides a solution is anyone’s guess. Rose keeps in regular contact with Sarah who helps her out financially when she needs it.

“My name's Rosemary Czizmazia, which is Hungarian. My dad was from Hungary. I've got a daughter who's 14, she's called Millie. And we just live by ourselves. And I actually borrowed the money for, I got a social loan fund actually, to get the house, which was pretty handy…”

“At the moment, […] Millie doesn't like going to school. So I've been through a bit of a hard time at the moment because Millie hasn't been to school, so I've had to go to court twice…”

Kayleigh and Ellie-May playing at Rose’s house.

“I was put on a tag, which wasn't very good. I had to be home at, like, 8 o'clock every night. And Millie still doesn't go to school, but they don't understand that…”

“But I've had lots of support from the school, and the school is still supporting us. So that's okay. And I have to go to the Women's Center because of probation. But I am going to be doing a couple of courses there as well. I'm going to be doing a computer course and just like mindfulness because I suffer with anxiety, so I want to get into mindfulness, which should be quite helpful, I hope…”

“I find it quite difficult some months because sometimes I haven't got any money left at the end of the week, never mind the month. But I've always got my twin sister who helps me, and we go for tea and Sunday lunches and everything with Sarah. So Sarah helps me a lot, and she'll help me out with money as well, if I need, too. So I've always got her for support…”

“Socially I only have a couple of friends because I don't really like going out because I suffer with depression. But when I do go out I've just got a couple of friends that I see that are okay. We do manage to go on holidays if I can save, I do save. Me and my sister used to go on holiday together, to Haven holidays, when the kids were younger because we lived together for a few years…”

“When my mom died when we was three, me and my sister lived with my dad for a while which was really hard. So then at the age of about, say, ten or so, we went to court ourselves so that we could leave our dad basically. And he never turned up anyway for court…”

“So we went to my Auntie Phyllis's one day from school, and we ran away from home. And then we went to court, and then me and Sarah lived with my auntie for a while. And then we was in care after that. And we were separated which was pretty hard. And then we eventually came back to Blackpool…”

“And we stayed together for a couple of years. And then our kids grew up together. So we used to help each other out with rent, because we lived together so it was a lot cheaper. Which was quite hard, but we didn't get on because Sarah's very bossy. But the kids, they've had holidays, they've been abroad, so that's really good…”

Rose’s video.

Millie with Kayleigh at Colins flat.

“When it comes to benefits, if you're on Employment Support Allowance, you have to go for a health meeting with a so-called doctor. And a couple of times when I've been, you have to get so many points, and after a couple of times I've been disqualified from my benefits so that's been really hard. That's been a struggle…”

Millie with Kayleigh at Claire’s flat.

“I've had to go to food banks which is quite depressing. It's a bit humiliating. It's embarrassing. But then I've appealed and I've actually won two appeals. But this last time, when they did it to me, because I actually, with all the stress, I had a lot of stress, with Millie not going to school and having to go to court and everything, and my depression was really bad. And I've been to hospital quite a few times…”

“I was really upset at this time. I forgot to change my address so they stopped my benefits again. But this time I went to my MP, and the MP helped me, and I didn't have to appeal this time. They just gave me my money back, because they knew they were in the wrong, so that was good. But it is quite hard, because you have to be careful where you spending, and make sure your money can last for two weeks…”

Rose at Claire’s flat.

“But I have been on a lot of antidepressants during my lifetime, Prozac and everything and that. And I have been into hospital a few times because I've been really depressed. But things seem to be getting better now, because I'm going to volunteer for the Barnardo's which I'm going to wait to be here for that. So we'll just have to see how that goes…”