Advocating for change: The urgency to support care leavers

In this week’s industry-led long-read, Alina Vaduva, from the Royal Docks School of Business and Law and the University of East London, analyses how young people leaving the care system can be better supported in a society that currently seems to cast them aside. 

In a world where ‘Young Lives Matter’, it is time to shine a spotlight on a crucial issue: the plight of care leavers. As these individuals navigate the challenging transition out of the formal care system at ages 18-21, they encounter a stark reality—aging out without the safety net of a family’s support.  

The statistics paint a worrying picture:  

• According to data from Home for Good, a charity dedicated to finding a home for every child who needs one, a staggering 29% of school leavers who were previously in care during 2020/21 were not engaged in further education, employment, or training nine months after leaving school, compared to 7% of all school leavers
• A troubling 25% of prisoners self-identify as care experienced
• Care leavers constitute 25% of the homeless population, exposing a critical need for systemic change

These numbers reflect not just challenges but the urgent need for a collective effort to address the multifaceted struggles faced by care leavers. 

What can we do? Multi-agency initiatives  

It is time for a robust and effective support system that young individuals can rely on when they leave the care system. A scheme that can break the current cycle of mental health issues, unemployment, substance addiction, and homelessness that we see today. A coordinated and collaborative programme would be the ideal solution as only together we can achieve more.  

The support system should be a multi-agency programme with various stakeholders such as: education providers, national and local authorities, charities, private sector, and, of course, representatives of the young people, who care currently or were in the care system, as they must be a part of the decisions and the actions that concern them.  

Universities and education providers  

Educational organisations, based on the sacred role of ‘educators’ for the future, could be essential providers of support and guidance for care leavers. They could create and special integration programmes for young people who are currently in the care system demonstrating the benefits of a solid educational foundation and ensuring that these young people have the equal opportunities they deserve to succeed and thrive. Extensive and ‘user-friendly’ schemes could include integration initiatives that start while these young people are in the system aimed at raising awareness and drive participation. 

Furthermore, universities could offer dedicated services, accommodation support and mentorship programmes. We have already seen excellent initiatives from universities, for example my employer, the University of East London, offer an inclusive package for care leavers that includes as bursary up to £1500 for every year of the course, priority access to the residential facilities, a dedicated advisor, a name contact in the health and wellbeing team and many other facilities.  

Local government  

Local government could recognise ‘care experienced’ as a protected characteristic, thus acting as a corporate parent to ending the gap and inequality faced by these young people and by going beyond our statutory requirements and ensuring that the needs of care experienced young people are at the heart of the decision-making process alongside other groups who formally share a protected characteristic. According to Professional Social Work Magazine, a promising number of 58 councils in the UK now recognise care leavers as a protected characteristic. It is time for the other councils to do the same.

Furthermore, the local government could function as the generator of the multi-agency collaboration bringing together schools, health services, and housing providers, to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting care leavers. More measures could initiate to support related to education and employment, housing, and social connections.  

National government  

The UK government already initiated and provides various support schemes such as: the Care Leaver’s Covenant (a pledge by organisations to provide additional support to care leavers in areas such as education, employment, and housing); Care Leaver’s Grant (and a dedicated Student Finance England package). 

What more could we do to empower care leavers? We could consider extending the age at which care leavers are entitled to support, nationally recognise them as a protected characteristic, housing programmes to support them to secure stable accommodation essential for sustainable progress, create a framework for, together with companies, offering employment initiatives, fund programmes to develop high-employability skills and create opportunities for integration through internships and traineeships in partnerships with companies.  

Another aspect where national government could massively contribute is providing health and wellbeing services and treat care leavers as a priority for these services, officially recognising the unique challenges these young people face. 

In 2013, the EU initiated The Youth Guarantee, which was recently reinforced to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 receive a superior quality offer in terms of education, employment, apprenticeship, and traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.  

Non-governmental organisations  

Where there is a gap in the governmental support, the safety net comes from charities and other forms of non-governmental organisations. Excellent examples include initiatives from The Care Leavers’ Association such as: Young People’s Project; Access to records, Criminal Justice Project, or Health Project.  

 ‘BECOME.’ is another charity, which is dedicated to helping children in care and young care leavers, that provides tailored and dedicated support. They offer: a dedicated advice-line, networking opportunities, coaching. In addition, another remarkable programme is Propel, an online tool where care leavers can research the tailored facilities offered by many higher education institutions.  

Another continually active organisation is Catch22, who advocates for ensuring that care leavers have the same opportunities as other young people. Their comprehensive Manifesto, published on 18th September, offers 22 points for national and local governments and other stakeholders to support care leavers and ensure that ‘Britain is a safe place to grow up’. 

Images: Dim Hou and Aditya Joshi

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