We are family: Young people leaving care need the love and support others may take for granted

The transition from childhood to adulthood is marked by navigating complex relationships and social pressures, figuring out our own identities, and making important decisions about our futures. All of these important milestones can come in a rush in our late teens and have the potential to shape our lives for years to come. Yet every year, around 13,000 young people leave care in England and are expected to tackle massive life events with far less support than their peers.  

“The disadvantage faced by young people who grew up in the care system is fuelled by something that politicians often find too hard to discuss - an absence of love,” Josh says. 

“Although care leavers - that is, young people aged 16-25 years old who were in care on or after their 16th birthday - are legally entitled to some ongoing support from their local authority after they leave the care system, it often doesn’t compare to the ongoing support a family can give. Around half of 24-year-olds in the general population still live with their parents, yet many young people leave care at the age of 18 or even younger. 

“There is no ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, no one to drop you off at university, no one to act as guarantor on your first flat, and no one at the end of a phone to tell you how to separate colours in the washing machine or talk things through ahead of a job interview,” he explains. 

“Going into care often cuts care leavers off from friends and relatives, while moving between different homes and schools can make it difficult to establish long-term relationships and many report feeling lonely or isolated when they find themselves living alone at 18.” 

“That’s why charities like Barnardo’s are working to put an end to the ‘cliff edge’ that looms when young people leave care at 18. For some, it can feel like they’re thrown into independent living without the parental safety net most of us rely on. In some ways, society expects far more of young people leaving care than it does of their peers. 

“But in others it expects far less, with care-experienced young people reporting that adults have low expectations of them. Not only that, but they often have to deal with the impact of huge adversity, of the care system itself and repeated occurrences of society letting them down,” Josh says. 

“As author of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in 2022, I set out a vision for a better future for care-experienced young people. I personally believe it is vital that no child leaves care without loving relationships, that we must aim to end care leaver homelessness, and we must narrow health inequalities for this group compared to the wider population. 

“Achieving this would involve a range of actions and commitment from across government departments and wider society. There are several things that different departments could do. We could, for example, make it easier for care leavers to stay with their foster parents when they first leave care, so they don’t have to move out on their own until they are ready. We could improve access to health care by introducing free prescriptions or we could look more closely at how the university sector should improve support for care-experienced students. 

“In this year’s Budget, the government made a welcome investment to better support kinship carers and expand foster carer numbers. There’s also the promise of reform through the Children’s Wellbeing Bill and in future spending reviews. 

“Change cannot come soon enough for children and young people, whose future is at stake. Improving support for care leavers needs to be at the heart of the Labour government’s mission to improve opportunity for all – as I said in my first speech in Parliament, I believe the disadvantage faced by the care-experienced community is the civil rights issue of our time,” Josh says.