10,000 voices of children from care that must be listened to

Published by Professional Social Work magazine

Children in care are more likely to feel safe where they live, be happy at school or college and reside with adults who show an interest in their education, a major study has found.

Most – 83 per cent – feel life is getting better. They also enjoy higher life satisfaction and are more likely to have felt happy the previous day compared to the general population of children and young people.

• 86 per cent of children aged 10 to 11 in care feel safe where they live compare 82 per cent in the general population
• 81 per cent of 11-15-year-olds in care like their school or college compared to 70 per cent in the general population
• 95 per cent of 11-15-year-olds in care say the adults looking after them show an interest in their education compared to 88 per cent in the general population

The findings come from a survey of 10,000 children in care aged four to 18 collected between 2016-2021 from 38 local authorities in England.

However, a higher proportion of children in care reported being fearful of getting bullied at school – 29 per cent among eight to ten-year-olds and 20 per cent among 11 to 18-year-olds compared to 17 per cent among all ten to 15-year-olds.

One young person said: “Being in care is a struggle because you can get bullied or picked on for being special.”

One in eight 11 to 18-year-olds felt adults had done things to make them feel embarrassed about being in care, especially those in residential care.

Many also felt their privacy was not respected with little or no choice about when personal information about them was shared.

One said: “Everyone talks about me – strangers are invited to meetings, school no everything – why should they?”

The study, conducted under a partnership between children’s charity Coram Voice and the University of Oxford, found trust in social workers declined as children in care got older.

Aged between four and seven, 93 per cent said they trust their social worker, falling to 75 per cent among eight to ten-year-olds and 58 per cent among 11 to 18-year-olds.

One said: “My social worker always includes me in decisions. Out of all the social workers I’ve had [name] is the one I’ve connected to the most.”

One in seven children ‘hardly ever’ felt included in decisions made about their lives and one in five of children in the youngest age group did not know who their social worker was.

The figure dropped to ten per cent between the ages of eight and 11 and eight per cent for those aged between 11 and 18.

Among four to seven-year olds, 48 per cent had not been explained why they were in care. Among eight to 11-year-olds the proportion was 36 per cent and among 11 to 18-year-olds it was 22 per cent.

Lack of information was a key issue identified. One young respondent said: “I do not know what my social worker is doing for me.”

Girls reported lower wellbeing than boys across all indicators. Children in foster or kinship care reported better wellbeing than those in residential or temporary or supported accommodation, prison or hospital.

Despite being happier at school than the general population, some children in care highlighted issues such as a lack of stability.

One said: “I just keep being moved around. I have moved I think seven times in the last six months. This makes me confused and scared.”

Linda Briheim-Crookall, head of policy and practice development at Coram Voice, said: “We need to shift the focus of children’s social care so that what’s important to children’s wellbeing is at its heart.

“To do this, those that make decisions, from individual social workers to government ministers, need to understand how children and young people feel about their lives.”

Protected characteristic

Coram Voice together with the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) conducted a separate study gauging views of care experienced children and young people on England’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

One of the recommendations of the review’s final report published in May is that care experience should be made a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

This would mean organisations having to ensure policies do not discriminate against people who have been in care as they currently must for nine other characteristics including race, religion and gender.

Feedback from 80 children and young people aged eight to 25 found 60 per cent of young people in or with experience of care are in favour of a protected characteristic.

This was backed by 40 per cent saying they have been treated negatively because of their care experience.

A campaign to make care experience a protected characteristic has gathered pace in recent months. Last week, councillors in Edinburgh voted in favour of this, joining Cumberland, Westmorland, Manchester, Cleveland and Ashfield District Council which have already adopted the measure.

During a debate in the House of Commons on children’s social care, Labour/Co-op MP for York Central Rachael Maskell said: Being care-experienced will never leave a person but adopting this as a protected characteristic will help with navigating life.” 

Campaigner Terry Galloway, a trustee of NYAS who was in care himself as a child, believes more care experienced people would be in favour of protected characteristic if they fully understood it.

“Some people are worried that it means identifying themselves as care experienced. But the whole point of this is to make organisations think about care experienced people when they create their policies so they aren’t having to fight for their rights.

“Often what happens is when a policy isn’t right someone has to suffer or come back and try and change it which is retraumatising.

“Requiring organisations to think about care experienced people when making policies gives us a voice without having to speak.”

Advocacy

The care review recommends all children and young people in care should have an advocate to support them, who should replace idependent reviewing officers as the mechanism for ensuring children's rights are respected. However, the survey found a third of respondents didn’t know how to get an advocate currently.

One young person said: “It can feel like you have to fight for an advocate at the moment. It feels because the process was really difficult and not straightforward that having an advocate was something I weren’t meant to have.”

Independent visitors

The care review recommends strengthening connections between these unpaid volunteers and promote long-term relationships between them and young people in care. However, the survey found a third of young people did not know of this role and nearly half didn’t know how to get an independent visitor.

Brigid Robinson, managing director of Coram Voice, said: “Only by listening to children in care and care leavers can the government make sure that they design a system that will work for them.”

Rita Waters, NYAS group chief executive, added: “The views of care experienced children and young people must be at the heart of the government’s implementation plan.”

Speaking at last week's MPs debate, Minister for children, families and wellbeing Claire Coutinho revealed the government’s response to the review, which had been promised by the end of this year, has now been pushed back to "early in the New Year".