Hanging out with Phil Frampton

This post is inspired by the betwixtness of the final day of Black History Month 2025 today, the beginning of National Care Leavers Month tomorrow, and draws on my previous reflections on Francis Weller and Eldership.

A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced by fabulous care-experienced pal Dr Rosie Canning to equally wonderful acquaintance, Phil Frampton. Like many, I had heard of Phil's book The Golly in the Cupboard (now 3rd Edition - plug only £0.72 p on Kindle - so no excuse!), of which I learned there's also this powerful BBC radio documentary:

First published in 2004, Frampton's fascinating childhood memoir was described as "a turning point in the emergence of Black British writing, comparable with James Baldwin's Going to Meet the Man. Born in the seaside village of St Agnes, Cornwall in 1953, Phil Frampton wanted to discover the reasons behind his abandonment as a child. For several decades he was unable to unravel the mysteries. Almost half a century on, Phil was finally allowed access to official records kept on him as a child. The book helped Phil unearth more information, adding dramatic twists, as revealed in this edition.

I've met with Phil a couple of times over the past weeks and learned so much from his kind and revolutionary spirit. Our discussions inspired me to begin reading his book. I've been on an emotional journey in reading the 3rd edition revised introduction about his experience navigating racism as an orphan, and the cruel and abusive experiences of women sent to homes for unmarried mothers, and Phil's BBC radio programme The Crying Shame: Secret Births and Forced Adoptions brings it all the more to life:

This is the story of what happened to many of the West's persecuted unmarried mothers and their abandoned children in the post war era of extreme misogyny. Born in secret at the Rosemundy House hideaway home for unmarried mothers in St Agnes , Cornwall during the 1950s, I was one of those children. Rosemundy was a cruel, abusive English-style "Magdalene Laundry". Many people believe that the brutal Magdalene Laundries were Irish Catholic institutions. In fact the first 'Magdalene Laundry' was in London and Protestant.

There's much to admire in Phil's storytelling and documentary making, alongside his radical theorising! No more so than in his reflections on his childhood living in an orphanage, and the unique kinship between fellow orphans he draws on to develop into a brilliant theory of adolescence in his latest free book, Adolescent Trauma: Youth and the Mystery Wall.

He writes about the crucial importance of teenagers’ collective empowerment from the perspective of his experiences in England but he sets them against wider international cultures and policies. Ruth Stark, who wrote the foreword to this book, commented: “The unique perspective that Phil offers us is to ‘read, mark, learn and in-wardly digest’ is from reflecting on his lived experience, knowledge and learning and helping us to journey together to change our world for sus-tainable shared futures”.

What's revolutionary about Phil is his approach to powerfully challenge and reimagine our current thinking of adolescence, truly placing the young person at the centre. Phil reframes adolescence as a potentially revolutionary phase where collective empowerment, solidarity, and creativity naturally arise - what if that were to be truly embraced? However, he argues that adult society represses this power, with governments fearing youth collectivism, negative media portrayals, and where education and parenting systems work to atomise youth consciousness, undermining mutual support networks. There is much potential in the adolescent peer world where new forms of cooperation and mutual care are learned, just as he experienced in his childhood, where he contrasts the solidarity and kinship of the collective orphanage upbringing he experienced with the isolation of the nuclear family and foster care.

I've written about how the coming together of the adult care experienced community could be truly transformative and magical, and Phil inspires me further in recognising that this should be happening as early as possible and intergenerationally.

In The Absence of The Ordinary on Eldership, Francis Weller reflects how:

“An elder is someone who really has taken themselves less and less seriously and their role in the community more and more gravely...Elders are those who face life’s wounds directly, metabolizing pain into medicine not just for themselves, but for the wider community.”

There's no doubt Phil's energies and commitment to childhood and care experience revolution reflect this type of eldership. And yet I feel mixed about calling Phil an Elder, as I experience him as ageless in his energy, spirit, wisdom and capacity to give. Perhaps, following Phil this might be reframed as a timeless, ageless wisdom instead, that I hope inspires others, as it does me to follow in his energetic footsteps.

Read more and share about Phil: Website | YouTube

Having also learnt that Phil was the lead organiser in the founding and national chair of Care Leavers Association (CLA) - a national charity run by care leavers for care leavers. This little prologue is a call to support me in running the Brighton 10K for the Care Leavers Association! It would be wonderful if you could support me in helping this important project by cheering me on, making a donation and sharing with others their great work 🌈🏃🏼‍♂️ 🫶