The care remainers

Policymakers across the UK have recognised that looked-after children should not be expected to leave care as soon as they reach their 18th birthday.

The consensus across the four nations is that this vulnerable group of young people, many of whom are still dealing with the trauma of neglect or abuse, need extra support in making the transition to adulthood.

Scotland has the most wide reaching post-18 offer. Under its "Continuing Care" arrangements, it is the only nation to have a statutory duty in place entitling young people to remain in their placement up to their 21st birthday irrespective of the type of care or whether they are in education, employment or training.

As of the end of July 2016, 35 per cent of placements in Scotland were in foster care, 31 per cent in kinship care and 10 per cent in children's homes.

However, there is an age restriction to this arrangement, as it does not apply to young people born before 1 April 1999.

In England, Staying Put arrangements entitle only those in foster care to stay with their carer until they are 21. Latest looked-after children figures from the Department for Education show that 74 per cent are in foster placements, with 11 per cent in residential settings.

Under Wales's "When I'm Ready" arrangements, councils have a legal duty to support young people who want to stay in a foster placement until they are 21 or have finished a college course or training programme. This includes an expectation that the young person will be in education, employment and training. As of the end of March this year, 77 per cent of Wales's looked-after children were in foster care with just 4.4 per cent in children's homes.

In Northern Ireland there is no legal duty to entitle a young person to remain in a placement beyond 18. Instead, the non-statutory "Going the Extra Mile" scheme is in place where carers can receive an allowance to continue caring for a young person in education, employment or training until they are 21.

But without statutory status, take-up has been limited in Northern Ireland. Just 12 per cent of those leaving care in 2015/16 remained with a foster carer under the scheme. A greater proportion (15 per cent) were living independently or in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, hostels, supported lodgings, prison or hospital.

By contrast, in England, 51 per cent of 18-year-olds in foster care had taken up the opportunity to stay in their placement at the end of March this year.

The Fostering Network chief executive Kevin Williams is concerned that many young people who want to stay in care are missing out as a result of the difference in approaches across the UK, particularly those not in education, employment and training "who are often the most vulnerable".

Scotland's age restriction attached to its Continuing Care arrangements is also unnecessary, he adds.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES

The way post-18 placements across the UK are funded is also a concern, with arrangements paid for through a mix of sources, including carer allowances and housing benefit paid to young people. Williams describes the housing benefit element as "morally wrong", as it encourages young people to become part of the benefits system.

Moreover, housing benefit claims involve lengthy forms for young people to fill out and are often subject to delays "which can create tension between carers and the young person", Williams adds.

Guidance issued by the Fostering Network in September urges councils in England to instead pay for Staying Put through a single allowance.

This guidance gives the example of Lincolnshire County Council, which puts its central government Staying Put allocation of £183,422 into a ringfenced part of its fostering budget that is then used to pay carers.

There are also concerns that the additional £40m in funding for English councils to implement Staying Put is not enough and is leading to some carers declining to take part, says Barnardo's policy officer, Nicola Smith. She describes lack of funding as the "biggest challenge" facing Staying Put.

RESIDENTIAL CARE HURDLES

Perhaps the most fundamental concern is that those in residential care in all UK nations with the exception of Scotland, miss out on remaining in care. The higher costs of residential care placements coupled with safeguarding issues around housing adult care leavers with younger looked-after children have proved to be major stumbling blocks.

The Welsh government has though pledged to act on this omission. It is now working with children's home providers, councils and the country's children's commissioner how to extending the "When I'm Ready" provisions to those in residential settings.

In England, the Department for Education has allocated £6m through its Children's Social Care Innovation Fund to pilot "Staying Close" arrangements in eight areas, whereby young people in residential settings can move to accommodation near to their children's home.

Norfolk children's charity Break is among those participating in the pilots. It has received £1.3m to offer this opportunity to 70 young people in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire from January 2018 to 2020.

Break is working with both the county councils as well as social housing providers to rent two-to-three-bedroom properties, which will be redecorated and refurbished with help from the young people who will live in them.

Break's director of business development Rachel Cowdry says the project will help young people to "maintain a relationship with significant adults who have cared for them".

"We will deliver some intensive training for children's home staff, offer transition support, provide houses with support and learning opportunities and offer an intensive emotional wellbeing service," she adds.

A one-off Staying Close trial, started in 2015 by Break and involving four care leavers in a house in Kings Lynn, shows some encouraging signs.

Of the young people involved, two are still in the house, while a third has his own tenancy, is at college and hoping to go to university. Cowdry says: "The support he needs from us is much more ad hoc now and although we pop in regularly, it feels more like a social call rather than task-centred visit". The fourth also has his own tenancy and is completing an apprenticeship. "He has built a positive support network around himself and only calls on us if his life hits an additional complication," adds Cowdry.

Nicola Smith at Barnardo's says feedback to the charity from young people and carers involved in Staying Put arrangements has also been positive. "It has enabled a phased introduction to independence with the support of adults the young people already have a trusted relationship with," she adds.

With care until 21 becoming embedded across the UK, many children's organisations are already moving onto the next challenge - to persuade policymakers that looked-after children should be offered the chance to stay in a placement until they are 25.

Williams points out offering this would bring local authorities more in line with wider UK society, where young people are increasingly staying at home for longer.

Office of National Statistics figures show that UK-wide, 25 per cent of 20- to 34-year-olds were living with their parents in 2016, compared to 20 per cent in 2000.

"Every parent expects to be there for their own children into adulthood," says Williams. "That shouldn't be any different for looked-after children".

POST-18 CARE ARRANGEMENTS IN THE FOUR NATIONS

ENGLAND

Staying Put arrangements were introduced in May 2014 whereby young people in a foster placement have the right to stay with their carer until they are 21 and be supported by their local authority.

Young people taking up this offer are entitled to the same support as a care leaver, including help from a personal advisor. There is no stipulation that the young person needs to be in education, employment or training.

The Department for Education is funding pilots of Staying Close arrangements, whereby those in residential care can live near to their children's home.

WALES

When I'm Ready arrangements were introduced in April 2016 for young people in foster care through the 2014 Social Services and Well-being Act. It places a statutory duty on local authorities to support a post-18 living arrangement that a carer and young person wishes to enter into until they are 21, or until they have completed an education or training course up to their 25th birthday.

There is an expectation that the young person entering into this arrangement is involved in education, training, employment or voluntary work. However, the Act asks councils to be flexible with this criteria, especially for "the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in foster care".

The Welsh government is committed to extending When I'm Ready to include residential care.

SCOTLAND

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced Continuing Care arrangements, entitling any young person in care born after 1 April 1999 to remain in their foster, kinship or residential placement up to their 21st birthday.

A young person in a Continuing Care placement is not legally "looked after" but the Act requires they receive the same support as a child in care. If a placement breaks down an alternative placement should be sought if it is in the best interests of the child.

The Scottish government is developing further arrangements to allow care leavers to return to care up to the age of 21.

Currently, care leavers between the ages of 16 and 19 are entitled to "Aftercare" advice, guidance and assistance. Councils also have a duty to assess their needs up to their 26th birthday.

Further reform is likely in the future - First Minister Nicola Sturgeon ordered a two-year "root and branch" review into the children's care system in May, including post-18 and leaving care arrangements.

NORTHERN IRELAND

A young person in a foster placement may stay with their foster carer until they are 21 under the Going the Extra Mile scheme. This was launched in 2006 but does not include a requirement that local authorities take part.

Carers receive allowances in line with local foster care fees for looking after 16-year-olds and additional support for the young person is provided until they are 21 by a "16 Plus" social worker.

The scheme is only available to young people in foster placements and those who are in education, training, employment or undertaking volunteering.

This article is part of CYP Now's Children in Care supplement. Click here for more

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