These sessions looked at ‘Experiences of Residential Care’, starting with exploring the proposals outlined in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ and what children and young people would like from staff and leaders within residential care. The second session explored personal relationships including staying connected with family and friends, how staff can show and promote loving relationships.
Understanding your history and having a full understanding of the reasons you went into care are important for young people developing a sense of themselves and recovering from past trauma.
The vast majority (87%) of care-experienced young adults in East Riding felt the reasons why they were in care had been fully explained; a much higher percentage than the average (77%) for other local authorities.
The local authority found that too many of their young people were living temporarily in B&Bs. The initial plan was to work on lowering this number and provide young people with a more suitable form of accommodation.
The council appointed a new ‘Homelessness Prevention Personal Advisor’. This person does not have their own caseload of young people and instead takes on more of a free roaming role, working to advise all care leavers on housing issues.
Their aim is to get involved with at-risk cases early on and focus their efforts on finding more appropriate accommodation for each young person. A key aspect of the job is establishing and maintaining professional relationships with housing providers.
This multi-agency approach means more accommodation options are available and there is variety of choice to suit the needs of each care leaver.
This approach has allowed the council to act proactively – preventing homelessness rather than remedying it after it has become an issue.
Now, young people take a more vocal stance when it comes to housing issues and the council works collaboratively with them to find suitable and sustainable accommodation options.
Each service user is more informed on the housing pathway and who to contact if they have questions or needs. Personal advisors have benefited from having a colleague close by who can provide the relevant information to help with housing issues as they arise.
10 Oct 23
Coram Voice have collaborated with AYPH on a small-scale engagement project focused on understanding the health risks faced by young people who have been in care.
Young people who have been in the care of a local authority are, on average, at greater risk of poorer health outcomes than their peers.
This project involved the setting up of a youth panel for discussions co-facilitated by young people themselves. This was a chance to hear the views and experiences of care leavers about health, accessing healthcare services and health inequalities in order to understand the challenges better.
Many of the challenges relate to general issues young people in care face which made everything – including healthcare – more difficult. In addition, they spoke about issues that might contribute specifically to health outcomes. This included a lack of health literacy, the impact of mental health problems, experiences of healthcare, finance as a barrier to accessing healthcare services and bureaucracy within the healthcare system.
The young people made a series of recommendations specifically in relation to reducing health inequalities for care experienced young people.
Recommendations
In an interview with BBC London News, Andrew Dickie, Head of Services at Coram Voice, says thousands of vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds have not been looked after in accordance with appropriate child-protection laws. In fact, homeless young people have been steered away from going into care and instead put into cheaper hostel accommodation as a way for councils to save money.
“Each time that happens to a child that’s outrageous and it needs to stop.” Andrew Dickie, Head of Services at Coram Voice
This BBC interview follows the case of a young person named Charlotte, who in 2023 took Lambeth Council to court. The case settled in her favour, with the council accepting that she should have been taken into care under section 20. Most young people aged 16 or 17 years who are accepted as homeless by a local authority should be taken into care under section 20 of the Children Act.
If you are a young person seeking support for accommodation, then Coram Voice may be able to help you. Contact us on the Coram Voice Advocacy helpline.
Freephone: 0808 800 5792
WhatsApp:+44 (0)7758 670369
Text: 07758 670369
Email: help@coramvoice.org.uk
Opening hours Monday to Friday 9:30am-6pm
