Editorial: Plight of care leavers should be a wake-up call

It placed a duty on local authorities to provide financial support and accommodation to ensure a smooth transition to adulthood and give those leaving care the same opportunities as all young people.

But nearly a decade on, progress can best be described as patchy. A study commissioned by CYP Now to coincide with National Care Leavers' Week reveals that the reality for many care leavers is poor housing, a lack of support and countless missed opportunities to improve their lives. Indeed, figures released last week by the Department for Children, Schools and Families show the percentage of former care leavers aged 19 who were in suitable accommodation has in some areas gone backwards.

For those young people who continue to be failed by the system, it is nothing short of tragic.

The root of the problem is a tacit acceptance by too many local authorities that outcomes for care leavers will be lower than for other young adults. This fatalism can become endemic in leaving care teams. Because the lives of looked-after children are often chaotic, some councils operate under an air of inevitability that they will continue to be so as they take the plunge into adulthood.

To a large degree, a care leaver's experience is as good as their personal adviser. They can turn out to be pivotal figures in young peoples' lives. Personal advisers need to impart significant, albeit realistic, aspirations for their care leavers. Advisers who march those care leavers straight down to the benefits office for whom education, training or employment should be within their grasp, are triggering a self-fulfilling prophecy of low esteem and high dependency.

The more positive and enterprising personal advisers can and do turn young lives round. They are required to support care leavers until 21, or 25 if they are engaged in education or training. It's a shame the government hasn't extended this right to 25 to all care leavers.

The government has also ruled against introducing a statutory requirement for children in and leaving care to have access to independent advocacy. So the onus remains on local authorities to step up to the plate to help navigate care leavers' transition to the outside world.

Our research is a wake-up call to all those professionals not to shirk their responsibilities.

- Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now.