PCCs urged to step up support for care-experienced young people
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Less than a quarter of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales have pledged to protect children and young people with care-experience, new research shows.
Analysis of 43 police and crime plans currently in place, carried out by youth advocacy service NYAS, finds that just 10 contain commitments to support care-experienced children “despite children in care being 15 times more likely to be criminalised than other children”.
The research also raises concerns that just eight police and crime plans “explicitly mention children in care and care leavers”.
It adds that “most police and crime plans are focused on child sexual abuse and exploitation in the context of victim support, but rarely were links made to children who go missing from care”.
As part of its Trouble with the Law campaign, the organisation has written to every police and crime commissioner and Mayor responsible for policing, sharing its findings.
“We hope that moving forward police and crime plans will put young people at the heart of decisions being made about them.
“Your efforts to stand up for care-experienced children and young people will be vital in shifting the national debate towards protecting and improving outcomes for care-experienced children and young people,” it states.
Rita Waters, NYAS group chief executive, said: “Many police forces can be proud of their efforts to treat care-experienced children as children first, not criminals. The right steps are being taken, but it is in the gift of all police commissioners to speed up the journey to child-centred policing. More must be done to keep care-experienced children and young people out of prison so that they can flourish.”
Meanwhile, care charity Become has shared the results of a new project designed to “reimagine leaving care”.
The Sky’s the Limit project brought together 11 young people to design a new approach to support care leavers’ transition into adulthood.
It will be used to lobby government to end the care cliff which sees young people losing out on support when they turn 18.
The team’s “design brief”, which has already been used to shape the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, identified five key areas that need to change:
An end to the care cliff: understanding that a positive start to adulthood is built on a continuation of important relationships and places.
-
Individualised support: recognising and celebrating young people to plan their own unique futures rather than putting ‘care leavers’ into a single box.
-
Consistency: an end to the ‘postcode lottery’ of care and one system that delivers fair and evidence-led support for all.
-
Accountability: to prevent bad practice and to ensure care-experienced people get what they need and deserve.
-
Equity: recognising that some groups, such as those with a disability or who are Black or from a minority community, face additional challenges to that of the care experience.
George Downing, a member of the Sky’s the Limit design group, said: "The report is important because it demonstrates the views and ideas of people with real-life experience of leaving care. “We are the experts and know what needs to be changed. It is us the government should be listening to, and our thoughts and words are in this document. Our corporate parent has a responsibility to uplift care leavers and bring the positive change that is needed."
Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of Become, added: “The experiences of young people leaving care are, at times, at risk of being overlooked – but listening to their voices and recognising and addressing the challenges they face is crucial to ensuring a positive start to adulthood. This is increasingly important as the number of young people in and leaving care continues to rise.”
