In 2003, more than half of young men aged between 20 and 24 were still living with their parents, with more than one in three young women in the same situation. More than one in five young men were still living with their parents aged between 25 and 29.
These young people were taking advantage of the support provided by their family to ease their transition into the adult world. But young people in care, already disadvantaged and prone to mental health difficulties because of their situation, do not have the luxury of such a measured transition to adulthood.
The theme of National Care Leavers' Week, which runs from 23 to 30 October, is transitions and mental health. Janet Rich, business director of residential care organisation Bryn Melyn Group, says it is the core issue for young care-leavers.
"There are many obstacles that care-leavers have to face, but if they are not emotionally well-equipped they have much greater problems in dealing with them," she says.
The main piece of policy affecting young care-leavers and those who work with them is the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. Under this, all young people in care should be given a personal adviser who will work with them on a pathway plan to support their transition to independent living.
But, says Rich, the Act missed an opportunity.
"The green paper that led to the Act said that the personal adviser should be an adult nominated by the young person," she explains. "That was something that came out of consultation with the young people. But no-one could see how that could be made workable, with the need for police checks and so on."
The campaigners behind National Care Leavers' Week claim current policy actually prevents young people in care from having access to someone who can continue to provide them with support that the majority of young people receive from their families, often throughout their twenties. Rich says that even where young people in care have formed a strong relationship with an adult, whether that's a youth worker, social worker, teacher or residential care worker, professional guidelines and child protection policy discourage the continuation of that relationship after the young person has left the care system.
"It's virtually impossible, except for those who stick their necks out," she says.
Stephen, 29, is a former care-leaver. "When you get done by the police you get a solicitor to vouch for you in court," he says. "Young people who leave care should have someone to stand up for their rights - a solicitor for life - for as long as they need them."
Rachel Griffin, policy and development officer at Voice for the Child in Care, also highlights the importance of continuous relationships with adults for the emotional development of young people in care. The group is behind the Alliance for Child Centred Care, which launched on 25 October.
The theme of the launch, chosen by two groups of young people on the organisation's steering group, is relationships.
After the launch event, attendees were asked to make a pledge to go back to their working environment and make it more child-centred. "The alliance aims to build our voice, so that when we are lobbying policymakers we have a stronger basis to speak on," says Griffin.
One way of providing continuous support for care-leavers is for their foster carers to transform themselves into providers of "supported lodgings".
Young people then do not have to move out when they eventually hit 18.
Martin Hazlehurst, head of policy at youth charity Rainer, one of the founding members of the alliance, says: "This was one of the consequences of the Leaving Care Act, as local authorities looked at how they might be able to meet the terms of the legislation."
But many local authorities put pressure on carers to take in younger people, who need to be looked after by law, rather than giving up their beds to older young people, says Bryn Melyn's Rich. Carers also receive less money for providing supported lodging than foster care.
A National Voice, which represents the views of young people in care, consulted more than 300 individuals, and found that 45 per cent of them said they often got lonely and depressed living on their own. Almost half believed they did not have the emotional skills to manage. Maxine Wrigley, national co-ordinator for A National Voice, says: "Care-leavers should be able to choose when they stop receiving support. And they should be able to ask for support to resume after a break."
Amanda Allard, senior public policy officer at children's charity NCH, says: "As young people in care come out of adolescence, they are often ready perhaps for the first time to address their past and move on - and it is then that the Government cuts off support."
A National Voice's research threw up some anomalies, in that while more than half of young people said their move was not well planned, two-thirds said they were happy with the aftercare they received. Hazlehurst says this is because young people think of aftercare when they think of the people who have been helping them, whereas they think of the process when they think of the move. "It all comes down to people in the end," he says.
"If the people implementing the policies are not sympathetic to young people, they will fail."
EVENTS IN THE WEEK
- The launch of the Alliance for Child Centred Care
- Five Years On from the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 conference, on 27 October, at Tate Britain, London
- Fundraising fire walks in both Wales and London
- A press and poster campaign
- A National Voice bin bag-based fashion show to highlight the unfair and undignified way young people in care are moved around.
