Introduced by Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan, attendees of this roundtable fringe event were invited to discuss what could be done to provide further support to young people that were leaving care. Topics under discussion included how to improve standards of care and on-going support for young people that had already left care.
Khan said care leavers were often moving from care to “squalid” accommodation and that this had a negative impact on the job prospects, health, and on-going education of these young people.
He said that young people deserved better.
Edward Timpson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, opened his address by stating that decision makers needed to communicate with young people that were in care or had been in care.
He felt that listening to their experiences would ensure that the right decisions would be made.
Timpson said that young people's care should not automatically end when they reached 18-years-old. He pointed out that these people did not have family networks to support them and said more mentors were needed to assist them when they were moving towards independent living.
He claimed that this support could prove the difference between a young care leaver ending-up in prison or them growing up with a good job and starting their own family.
Conveying what he had learnt from young care leavers, he said they wanted consistency of care, security, someone to be there for them, and not to be let down.
“We have to tread carefully when deciding the best approach,” he added.
Moving on, he pointed out that the current government were the first to introduce the “Stay Put” model for young people in foster care. This model allowed 18-year-old young people and foster parents to opt to remain together until the young person was 21.
Timpson said that many children were leaving care at too young an age. He felt that 16 was far too young in the majority of cases. He suggested the director of children's services should have to “sign-off” such decisions.
He felt that personal advisors were doing a “fantastic job” supporting care leavers up to the age of 25.
“What we do know is that a 25-year-old does have a better chance of surviving than an 18-year-old,” he added.
He claimed the system was “starting to evolve” in “a small piecemeal way” rather than within a rigid statutory framework. He also said that his party were willing to listen to new ideas on how to help care leavers past the age of 18 and welcomed the attendees’ opinions.
Moving on, he said that young care leavers deserved consistent, good-quality levels of support.
He felt the system was currently too inconsistent, but changes were being made. He highlighted that Ofsted, probation services, health services, and care providers would be collaborating in multi-agency inspections of children’s services in 2015.
Timpson also pointed out that trust funds had been set-up for every person in care and said a “much better platform” was being provided for care leavers.
He then praised the five major UK children's charities for working together to find common policy themes.
Concluding his speech, he said there were issues of poor record keeping, bad practice, and a status problem surrounding children's services.
He added that he was examining the area of training for social workers. He said many courses were good but some were not “up-to-scratch”. He felt there was also a need to attract new and better people into leadership roles.
Sir Tony Hawkhead, chief executive of
Action for Children, agreed with Timpson that the five major charities working together was a positive move. He said it would achieve matched outcomes, which would be cheaper to deliver and more effective.
Sam Byrne, a 20-year-old man who moved from foster care around eight months ago, said he was very worried when the time came for him to leave his foster home.
He was concerned by the difficulties of independence and was constantly worried about his finances at the end of every month because he had no “safety net”.
When asked what support he had received he replied that his personal advisor had been supportive and he praised that independence course provided by Barnado's.
He said he was given basic tools and medical kits while on the course. He said it was the most important piece of support he had received. The course was no longer available, he said.
He was then asked what else could have been done to support him when leaving care. He said he would have liked more time with his personal advisor and social workers because they did not always had enough time to sort out his problems.
Vicky, a 17-year-old in foster care that was entering into a career as a care-worker, said she was part of a group that wanted better consistency of care, help with moving out of care (even if it was early), and for people to listen to their concerns.
Addressing the topic of pregnancy, she said she knew women in care that had a baby whilst in care and had their babies taken from them. She said these women should be judged on current assessments. She also called on decision-makers to think more carefully before putting another child in care.
Talking about housing, she said there were not many options for care leavers. She felt that boarding control housing made people less independent.
Questions and answer session
Fringe attendees were divided by tables and asked to discuss the problems faced by care leavers and to make recommendations for change.
One group felt that local councillors needed more information on this topic so strategic regional decisions could be made.
Another felt that 18 to 25-year-old peer networks should be established, where young people leaving care would be organised to meet regularly to share their experiences. They suggested that mentors could be recognised within these groups and a national pilot scheme was needed.
The next group said more forward planning was needed to provide consistency and a safety net to people in care. They advocated the idea of key workers or safety representatives being established that care leavers could rely on.
They also said that more needed to be done to encourage local authorities to work together so young care leavers would still be protected when they moved to different areas in the UK.
The final group said young care leavers were currently paid weekly but they should be paid monthly. They felt this would encourage better money management.
They also said the care framework should go up to the age of 25 like the Disability Act. They argued that most young people were supported by their families throughout their 20s.