Category: News

25 Nov 20

‘What Makes Life Good, Care leavers’ Views on their Well-being’, published by Coram Voice in collaboration with The Rees Centre and released today (25 November 2020) has shown significant differences in the experience of care leavers between local authorities in England.    

It found disparity in the percentage of care leavers with low well being ranged from 14% to 44% by local authority. Similarly, in one authority, half of young people did not always feel safe in their home, in contrast to another local authority where the same was true for only one in five. 

The report is the first of its kind in examining the well being of care leavers from their perspective and enabling comparisons across local authorities by analysing 1,804 care leaver responses collected between 2017 and 2019.

Findings also showed that: 

• Care leavers did worse than the general population on a range of measures.
• There was a steep decline in well-being after young people left care.
• Care leavers who reported that they had a disability or long-term health problem were particularly vulnerable.
• Overall, although a majority of care leavers had moderate to high well-being, 30% had low well being. Our analysis identified the 10 key factors associated well-being.
• The care system can get it right. We can learn from the positive experiences of those with high well-being.
• Many young people were especially positive about the support they received from their leaving care personal advisers (PAs).

Brigid Robinson, Managing Director of Coram Voice, said: “Our What Makes Life Good report firmly puts the voices of young people leaving care centre stage by understanding from their experiences, what makes life good. Our aspirations for young people leaving care should be the same as for our own children; that they thrive and grow to become confident young adults able to find their way in the world.    

“To achieve this, we need to understand what is important to them; what they love doing, their hopes and feelings and what could make things better. What Makes Life Good does this, and through this unique insight into young care leavers’ subjective well-being, provides clear recommendations for policy and practice to make life better for young people leaving care so they can flourish into adulthood.”  

This research highlights the importance of understanding how care leavers themselves feel about their lives. Understanding the factors that can improve care leavers’ well being is essential to delivering high quality services and support, instead of basing it purely on objective measures and professional assessments such as whether care leavers are in education and employment.

Key recommendations for local authorities, guided by factors that care leavers have identified, include:  

• Improving connections, building trusting relationships and addressing loneliness 
• Providing emotional and mental health support to address stress, negativity and help care leavers feel good about their future 
• Providing money management and financial support to help care leavers cope financially 
• Improving accommodation support to help care leavers feel safe and settled in their homes 
• Identifying and supporting young people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
• Levelling up provision so that more young people get the positive experiences we see in the best areas.
• Addressing the cliff-edge of care at 18.

The report is part of a series of reports analysing the responses of 10,000 care leavers and children in care on what makes a positive difference to their well-being. This report follows a series of recent Children’s Commissioner’s reports and comes ahead of the government’s imminent review of children’s social care. 

Full report

Brief report summary

Two page short summary

 

12 Nov 20

The voices of care-experienced children and young people must be at the heart of the Government’s imminent review of children’s social care – that is the message of a briefing published today by Coram Voice and the Rees Centre that gives care-experienced young people the opportunity to tell policy makers directly how they believe the current system needs to change.

The Voices of Children in Care and Care Leavers on What Makes Life Good focuses on what care-experienced children and young people have said about their wellbeing, drawing on Coram Voice’s ongoing work with thousands of care-experience children and young people.

In its introduction the briefing says: “The state, as their parent, often does not fully know what matters to the children and young people it cares for. Official statistics used to monitor the care system provide only a partial picture of children in care and care leavers’ lives by focusing on objective measures and adult assessments of how children and young people are doing. This does not tell us what being in care is like for children and young people.”

Drawing on learning from the Coram Voice  Bright Spots programme, a partnership with the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford, the briefing sets out key calls from the children and young people who collaborated in its publication. These include:

• Supporting children in care and care leavers to keep and develop their relationships with those that are important to them.
• Helping children and young people to participate in decisions, understand the system and their rights and be free from discrimination.
• Giving children and young people a chance to learn how to manage the challenges in life and have the opportunities they need.
• Supporting children and young people to come to terms with what has happened to them and make them feel that they have the same value as other children.
• Developing services that care leavers can trust to be there for them when they need them and support staff to be caring, available and actively engage care leaver.
• Supporting young people to manage the challenges of independent living.
• Helping care leavers feel better about themselves and their lives by providing emotional support.

Linda Briheim-Crookall Head of Policy and Practice Development at Coram Voice said:

“When developing policy and practice in the care system, the key question should be – will children in care and care leavers feel that their lives got better as a result?

“Government and those leading the Care Review should use the Bright Spots indicators and what we have learned from the thousands of care experienced voices who have responded to our surveys to establish a care system that not only keeps young people safe but helps them to flourish, by designing services and providing support focused on what wellbeing is to them.”

Brigid Robinson, Managing Director of Coram Voice said: “We feel that in order to have a full and effective Care Review, the voices of children and young people in care and care leavers must be at the heart of the process.

“Through our surveys, Coram Voice has heard from  an unprecedented number of children and young people about their experiences in care. This is vital work and the findings should be used to help shape and improve the care system.”

“We hope to see the Care Review explore measures to improve wellbeing for care experienced children and young people and put them at the heart of any decisions made about them.”

Read the full report