We are all too aware of the failings of services to support care leavers and the dire consequences that this has including disproportionately high levels of unemployment, homelessness, imprisonment, substance abuse and tragically suicide.
There are a plethora of organisations established to support care leavers, but it is evidently not enough. The government has recently published a requirement for local authorities to collect data on all care leavers up to 25 (previously 21) but stating that information only needs to be provided for 22- to 25-year-olds “who have been in touch with you”.
Does the government not realise that most care leavers don’t bother getting in touch with councils because history has shown that it’s a waste of time as they receive little or no assistance? If it were possible to maintain contact with all care leavers the data is likely to produce even more depressing findings.
Prioritising care leavers
Local authorities are financially challenged currently but some have a greater commitment to care leavers than others by commissioning services that demonstrably help.
Four authorities in the North West region have chosen to work alongside Pure Insight, a charity operated by and for care leavers and of which I am a trustee, to put support in place.
By forming partnerships with authorities and to a large extent delivering services to meet their statutory responsibilities, Pure Insight has established a tried and tested way of supporting care leavers. It does this in a number of ways:
Pure Insight has always formed relationships with young people. There is an appreciation, sometimes lacking elsewhere, that this is a process that can take months or even years to occur. Particularly as levels of trust among the majority of those children and young adults is low. They may have been moved through a range of placements in care, each of which will have broken down, each set of relationships shattered. Relationships with the Pure Insight service are not transitory but open ended, and they have consistently proven to be enduring.
Basic needs such as having somewhere safe to live, furnishing that home well, having sufficient food and adequate funds to afford the basic utilities are identified – where necessary, fought for – and met by the team with and on behalf of the young person.
A range of services have been developed by the team ensuring that young people are helped into employment, education or training. Other services address and manage the (almost inevitable) emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties experienced by care leavers.
Initially commissioned, these services are now fully integrated into the charity’s in-house service offer. They support and advocate for care leavers including care leaver parents. The latter group may be threatened with safeguarding interventions or have already lost the right to care for their children due to their status as care leavers or because they were lacking an adequate support network. Pure Insight become that support network. They ensure that their care leavers have fun in their lives too, whether it be mountaineering, trips to the beach, growing things on the allotment, cycling or merely meeting to chat over a coffee in their self-operated café.
New life skills are learned, from household budgeting to supporting the development of social activities. This is supported by trained mentors who are required to make a long-term commitment to their mentee. Mentors bring their own life skills – as perhaps would a good parent – and consistently be there for their mentee. It is voluntary so there are neither working hours nor holidays. What generally happens is that a relationship is developed mirroring what so many care leavers who have successfully transitioned into a happy and fulfilling adulthood have said, that having one key adult who believed in, encouraged, pushed, unconditionally supported them through good times and bad was what “made the difference” and enabled them to “succeed”.
Challenge to commissioners
Pure Insight has developed the provision outlined above with the support of the commissioning local authority, many of whom have embraced the practice of co-designed commissioning, which ensures that both commissioner and provider are working together from the outset and those using the service are not “falling through” avoidable gaps.
Steve Nevitt, service manager for care leavers at Cheshire East Council, says: “We’re incredibly proud of our partnership with Pure Insight and it represents an essential cornerstone of our local offer to care leavers across emotional wellbeing and psychological support, mentoring and support to young parents. Pure Insight’s staff are passionate and authentic and never fail to go the extra mile, something that is so important in engaging young adults who may have good reason to be fearful of the involvement of statutory agencies. It’s always hard to put a price on some of these softer outcomes but we’re confident that the partnership delivers both outstanding outcomes and value.”
That’s not to say disagreements don’t arise sometimes, but these are managed on the basis of developing a relational model which works for all parties. We know that local services are stretched and for commissioners the opportunity to work in partnership with Pure Insight has proven to be both cost-effective and most importantly successful for their care leavers.
Pure Insight’s voluntary mentoring scheme, arguably the cornerstone of the service, would cost a great deal of money if replicated by a council – the mentoring scheme is labour intensive with antisocial hours and 24-hour cover. By delivering specialist social, emotional and mental health support services across several authorities Pure Insight achieves economies of scale. The same applies to parenting skills learning and experiences, advocacy services, activities and support in obtaining meaningful training and employment opportunities. Critically, the young people using the services value the fact that those supporting them have often “walked in their shoes” or are working with them because they want to, not because they are being paid.
Leaving care has often been described as a “care cliff”. The partnerships that Pure Insight has developed with councils delivers a way to avoid the precipice and a safety net for most care leavers.
The Pure Insight approach is not seeking to suggest that it is ‘the’ model, but for our care leavers it is ‘a’ model that consistently works.
We were pleased to speak to members of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care about what we do and we hope it is a model they support in their final report later this year.
- Ed Nixon is a trustee of Pure Insight and a member of the Every Child Leaving Care Matters campaign group
FURTHER READING
- Pure Insight independent evaluation, Claire Baker, May 2021
- www.pure-insight.org.uk/about-us
