This week is National Care Leavers Week, with the theme ‘All of Us, We are One.’ It’s been a week of celebrating care experienced young people through events across the country, the lighting up of municipal buildings on Thursday 31st October and #NCLW adverts on Channel 4. To mark the culmination of this important week of awareness, Hannah McCowen, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Manager for Catch22, shares the voices of care experienced young people working with her organisation.
To mark National Care Leavers Week at the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum at Catch22, we are publishing our ‘In Their Own Words’ reports – five reports from the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum that paint a picture of what life is like in 2024 for young people leaving care, based on a survey of over 200 care experienced individuals, across the UK.
Here are some of the headline findings:
- 77% reported they were struggling to buy food at least some of the time;
- 62% find it difficult to get the mental health support they need;
- 31% have a formal diagnosis, but a further 35% believe they are neurodivergent with many saying it is difficult to get the diagnosis or support that they need;
- the majority of care experienced individuals do not know what support is available after the age of 21; and
- mental health challenges and transport issues are some of the most common barriers to accessing community services and support.
The reports have been co-produced with care experienced young people from our Young People’s Benchmarking Forum who were involved throughout the process. Their involvement included:
- choosing the five topics as priority areas for attention and action
- designing the surveys
- analysing the results of the findings and identifying local and national asks for each topic
- sharing the key findings and asks at the ‘In Their Own Words’ event in July, with over 300 decision and policy makers
- writing the forewords for each report
- deciding on the content for the reports, including examples of good practice, and
- delivering presentations on the findings to multiple audiences including Ofsted Inspectors and National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum’s, Mental Health and Care Leavers Community of Practice.
Over the next few weeks, the members of our Forum will be sharing the five reports at a number of conferences. They are looking for opportunities to share their messages far and wide.
The five reports cover multiple aspects of a care leaver’s daily life, from community support like addressing travel costs and access to activities, to support through national programmes like Staying Put and Staying Close.
Here’s what some of the Forum’s Champions and Legends said about the findings in the report and their asks, those they believe will make a difference:
Communities of Support Report – recommendations include addressing local travel costs, wi-fi access and reducing the cost of activities like gym sessions.
“Specifically for care experienced individuals, communities of support are arguably even more important as by nature of being care experienced, you may have been uprooted from one environment to another.”
Dyllan, Young People’s Benchmarking Forum Champion
Safe and Affordable Homes Report – recommendations include support from local authorities to decorate young people’s first homes with carpets and curtains, with maintenance costs, home security and Priority Housing Banding for 18-25 year old care leavers.
“Throughout this survey, we saw that a lot of care experienced young people are placed in accommodation in areas with a lot of crime and people who are unsafe. Many are left to deal with this on their own, which affects their mental health. No adult wants to feel unsafe and scared in their own house or neighbourhood, so why is it ok for care experienced young people and adults to feel this way?”
Esla, Young People’s Benchmarking Forum Champion
Cost of Living Report – recommendations include fully funded driving lessons, ringfenced funding to support with the cost of living, and support with Universal Credit.
“This is still a major problem for care experienced individuals today especially when living independently or without the same family support networks that many others can fall back on….. I hope this report helps you understand what it would be like to walk in our shoes and helps you think about what you can do to help change our lives.”
Mark, Young People’s Benchmarking Forum Champion
Mental Health and Health Report – recommendations include having health and mental health specialists within care leavers teams, better training for Personal Assistants, financial support with NHS prescriptions and funding research into neurodiversity and care experience.
“It is so important for care experienced young people to access health and mental health care, yet the systems that exist often struggle to meet their unique needs. From moving areas and finding new support services to long waiting lists and services that don’t fully understand their circumstances, care experienced individuals often encounter significant obstacles when trying to get the help they need.”
Nathan, Young People’s Benchmarking Forum Legend
Support after 21 and 25 Report – recommendations include exemptions to travel passes to 25, extending and reviewing Staying Close and Staying Put programmes, creating local places for care leavers to return to for reunions and celebrations, and better activities nationally for care experienced young people over 21 and 25.
“Post 21 and 25 support is important to me because I’m approaching 25 and have been in the social system for 20 years. I rely on the care from my leaving care team, these people are my rock, they know everything about me. I know the financial support is going to end soon but it’s so much more than just financial. I turn 25 soon and my PA and leaving care team have all reassured me that they aren’t washing their hands of me, and this gives me a sense of security. Not everyone has that, but everyone should have that. It should be mandatory.”
Reece, Young People’s Benchmarking Forum Legend
This National Care Leavers Week, we hope you’ll read the reports or watch the videos and share them. As well as painting a clear picture of what life is like in 2024 for care experienced individuals, they demonstrate the power and potential in coproducing solutions, with care experienced young people.
Nat O’Brien, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Coproduction and Engagement Lead, said: “The reports importantly include solutions, key asks and examples of pledges that had been submitted. As a team in collaboration with our care experienced sessional staff and volunteers, we are now creating opportunities to share the findings and promote the solutions and have already been invited to follow up meetings with senior policy makers.”
There’s an urgency to ensure that we can make a difference for care experienced young people today, as well as those who will leave care in the future. As you read the reports, I invite you to consider what action you can take that will make a difference -whether that is to an individual care leaver, the care leavers living in your area or across the country.
Hannah McCowen manages the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) at Catch22. NLCBF is a forum of 133 local authority leaving care teams across England, working together to improve support and services for young people leaving care. The Young People’s Benchmarking Forum (YPBMF) is at the heart of NLCBF, with care experienced young people’s views shaping the priorities work of the Forum. YPBMF coproduced the ‘In Their Own Words’ survey, ran an In Their Own Words event in July for over 300 decision and policy makers and have now released the five In Their Own Words reports.
