Read 12-Year-Old's Heartbreaking Letter To Judge About Being in Foster Care

A letter written to a judge by a 12-year-old boy has gained viral attention online this week after Steven Russell from the U.K. posted a picture of the words written by his younger self.

Russell posted a picture of the letter titled "Choices" on employment-based social media site LinkedIn. At the time it was written, he was in care and living in a children's home. Desperate to return to a foster home he loved, young Steven was inspired to write a letter in his own words.

"I remember giving it to my social worker, I put it in an envelope as well," Russell told Newsweek.

In the letter, he wrote: "Hello my name is Steven Anthony Russell. I am the boy who is trying to get Pat Hudson to be my long-term foster carer."

Expressing his wish to go back and live with her, the 12-year-old said: "She is the nicest person in the world."

Between the age of six months and 16 years, Russell lived in nine foster homes, two care homes, and attended five different schools. Today, he is the founding director of Elements SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) support—a support service working with children and young people. As part of this work, he is passionate about sharing his own experiences in the care system.

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Looking back on writing the letter, Russell explained: "Noone said to me, write a letter, I said to the social worker, 'If I do that do you think it'll help me get back?' And she said it's worth a shot."

"I've always been a creative person. I was always a creative child. I've got memories of me being a child—I suppose it would be deemed as mischievous behavior but I actually look back on it and I think it was quite genius, to be honest," he laughed.

The letter itself, and the story behind it, resonated with many on LinkedIn, where others working with young people shared their thoughts on the letter.

"That's as poignant & beautiful a letter as I've ever seen in all my years as a social worker Steven," said one commenter.

Another reply said: "I love this post! I love this post! This is something I work on in my team. Really hearing children, recording their voice and making sure [it] is clear [in] assessments and plans."

"The whole point of me doing that LinkedIn post was all about referencing the importance of the child's voice," said Russell. "My way of looking at it is that the child is always right—their feelings are natural to them. Even if you don't agree with the child, there's still a reason they've said it or why they've done something."

In the end, Steven did get his wish to move back in with foster mom Pat, and while the placement did later break down, Russell hoped that sharing his letter would help others see how a child's voice can be heard.

"You're always trying to find ways to capture the child's voice. Not every child is going to want to pick up a pen and write, some of them may decide to draw a picture" he explained. "I think the idea is to be creative and be curious about the child's voice, and don't expect them to talk about what they're thinking and feeling but maybe to write about it, sing about it, do a poem about it, or draw about it."

When creating the Elements service, Russell said he did one simple thing: "I asked myself the question, how can I create a service that would've benefited me as a child? And then I thought about those four elements: I thought about my physical health, my mental health, I thought about my communication skills and I thought about my environment as well."

Russell plans to continue sharing as many stories from his life as he can to inspire others.

"​​This bought tears to my eyes," said one commenter on LinkedIn. "I am so proud of the younger you for writing this letter and using your voice. I am also so thankful it was heard that time."