Suggest some reading on: growing up as a modern-day British orphan

[jim]

Weird thread, I know

Basically, I need to help out with some writing which will loosely refer to life as a modern-day orphan in Britain. Problem is, I don't want to write something that misrepresents it - I personally know virtually nothing, so I've been looking for some contemporary writing but can't find any. In fact, the only thing that springs to mind is Tracey Beaker, and since that's a work of fiction I can't help but doubt how legitimate a representation it is.

Any ideas on where to look? I'm out of ideas

[mycarsavw]

The only orphan I can think of who writes is Andy McNab - not sure whether he's written anything specifically about being an orphan though and I don't think he's what you'd call "the norm".

Wasn't Steve Jobs orphaned?

[Dareos]

Oliver Twist?

[jim]

Not exactly what I'd call modern, but yeah that's the sort of thing I'm thinking about...

I would like to think things have improved a bit since then.