Ashley John-Baptiste | A Childhood in Care

Award-winning BBC presenter and journalist Ashley John-Baptiste is known for his powerful storytelling on The One Show and BBC News, covering issues of adoption, race, homelessness, and the care system. Now, in his deeply personal and unflinching memoir, Looked After, he turns the lens on his own life, offering an intimate exploration of the UK’s social care system through the eyes of someone who lived it.

Placed in foster and residential care from the age of two, Ashley moved through five different placements and families before turning eighteen. The instability of his upbringing shaped every aspect of his life—his education, identity, friendships, and sense of belonging. Yet, against the odds, he earned a place to study history at Cambridge University, defying the low expectations often placed on children in care.

In Looked After, Ashley reflects on the adults, social workers, and mentors who influenced his journey, the challenges of growing up in a system that is meant to provide security but often falls short, and the intersection of race, masculinity, and care experience. Now a journalist who reports on the care sector and mentors young people, he offers a moving, eye-opening, and necessary perspective on the state of social care in Britain today.

Join Ashley as he shares his remarkable story of resilience, identity, and the power of opportunity.

In conversation with Martin Figura.