A 13-YEAR-OLD Gloucester boy who has been repeatedly suspended from school is appealing for a foster family so he can make a fresh start.

Lee Payne, of Balfour Road, Linden, has suffered from an emotional behaviour disorder since he was abused as a young child.

Due to his bad behaviour, he has been repeatedly suspended from Sandford School, at Seven Springs, near Cheltenham.

Now, with his mother Carol Cooke's support, he has appealed to the social services department at Gloucestershire County Council for a foster family in a bid to make a fresh start and "sort his head out".

Social services chiefs have refused him foster care and instead have opted to allocate him a social worker while he lives at home.

But Carol, 40, says that is not good enough and claims her son needs the extra care and attention she cannot give him.
"He needs to go to a new family and start afresh," she said. "His bad behaviour stems from when he was abused as a child and he told me he needs to get away to sort his head out.
"He's desperate to make a fresh start, but social services say they can't help him and it's taken them months to do anything.
"Meanwhile, this problem's just getting worse and worse.
"He was suspended again last week and he needs to get his head straight."

In a bid to make social services chiefs grant her wishes, Carol and Lee went to see department chiefs at Elmbridge Court and Shire Hall.

After that, the department agreed to allocate him a social worker but not a foster family, as Lee is adjudged to already have adequate accommodation.

Sarah Wood, a spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Social Services, said: "We have allocated a social worker to the family who will be working with the family to support them at this time.
"There are no plans to take him into care at the moment. We want to work with the family to sort these problems out."