Your article draws attention to a landmark review that describes the “care cliff” for young people leaving care at 18 leading to tragic outcomes (‘He was left on his own’: the care-leaver lives lost to a system that abandons them at 18, 25 August). The good news is that there are ways to fix this problem, but they are neither quick nor straightforward.
My own research found that first and foremost the responsible local authority requires sufficient funding, staffing and planning to assess and implement care options when a child is taken into care.
The provision of support need not automatically mean foster care. It can mean kinship care where, following an assessment, a member of the child’s extended family becomes the carer for the child in transition to adulthood. Both foster care and kinship care options require dedicated, skilful carers, extended family members, staff and funding in order to provide the flexibility that both young people and carers need.
Dr Bob Broad
Former professor of children and families research, De Montfort University
The late Eric Sainsbury pioneered research on care leavers in the 1980s. The In and Out of Care study pinpointed the same vulnerabilities among care leavers as this recent research, 40 years ago.
The researchers recommended greater participation by young people and parents, more continuity and stability in relationships with adults, and better preparation for leaving care. Most importantly, they argued that care should not be an administrative placement but a set of relationships and experiences extending across a child’s life.
The test of a civilised society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The shocking death toll among care leavers challenges this country’s right to call itself civilised.
Alan Walker
Emeritus professor of social policy, University of Sheffield
