CYP Now - Growing movement to protect care experience in law

When the idea of care experience becoming a “protected characteristic” in equalities legislation came up at the Care Experienced conference in 2019, I was not convinced it would make a difference.

Alison O’Sullivan, chair of National Children’s Bureau

I recall debating with Ian Dickson whether it should be one of the top 10 messages, but the concept wasn’t sufficiently developed at the time and there was no consensus.

By the time the “Our Care, Our Say” group presented its report Is this the time people are actually going to listen? to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in 2020, the idea was gaining momentum.

Key activists pressed the issue, which became a recommendation from the Care Review, though government declined to implement it because self-declaration of care experience could exacerbate stigma, still a worry for some. But, driven by a rights-based approach, many young people in care and care-experienced adults felt that this was an important measure to tackle discrimination and disadvantage.

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