Too often, care leavers have doors closed in their faces as their time being “looked after” recedes into the distance, and they try to build their lives after leaving care.
According to Department for Education statistics, outcomes for care leavers are getting worse, with 36 per cent not in education, employment or training at 19 compared with 33 per cent the previous year, and a two per cent drop in those deemed to be in “suitable” accommodation. Should we accept that this is inevitable in a recession? Not at all. Expenditure on children in care, and on care leavers in particular, is a drop in the ocean compared with overall central government budgets. Even within constrained local budgets, there are not so many new care leavers each year; this is expenditure that can largely be predicted and planned for.
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