We are failing children in care – and they are dying on our streets

There is a lack of support for young people leaving care – but from privatisation of services to inadequate housing, the care system fails children long before the age of 18

If one in four young adults found themselves homeless once they turned 18, with 14% sleeping rough, we’d be asking where the hell their families were. But these figures are the reality for young care-leavers. After they cease to be the official responsibility of their local authority on their 18th birthday, the risks they face as a result of having nowhere to call home include ill health, violence, sexual exploitation and early death.

These are children who have been removed from their families precisely because they have suffered significant harm or are deemed to be at risk. So why do care-leavers so often end up without support, on the streets, camping out on friends’ floors and living insecure lives in unsuitable – and sometimes dangerous – accommodation? “It seems unbelievable that you could take the most vulnerable kids and put them into independent living without a package of support,” says children’s commissioner Anne Longfield. It is hard to disagree.

The privatisation of child protection now rampant across the care sector means local authorities can only pick from what the market opts to offer

726 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2018, according to the latest ONS figures. Over the next few months, G2 and Guardian Cities will look behind this statistic to tell the stories of some of those who have died on Britain’s streets. We will tell not just the story of their death, but the story of their life – what they were like as kids, what their dreams were, their hobbies, what people loved about them, what was infuriating. We will also examine what went wrong with their lives, how it impacted on their loved ones, and if anything could have been done differently to prevent their deaths. 

Although some councils agree to edge care leavers up the housing list, this vulnerable group don’t have priority access to social housing

Related: The homeless death of Kane Walker: how we let down the kid from care

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Q8AeLQ