Care Crisis Review: Care-experienced young people and adults survey results

Authors: Calum Webb, Martin Heneghan, Permala Sehmar and Kate Morris
The reflections set out in this paper are drawn from the results of a survey conducted by Family Rights Group on behalf of the Care Crisis Review. The Survey was promoted to care leavers by the youth organisation Foster Focus and via social media, FRG’s newsletter, organisations that sit on the Care Crisis Stakeholder Advisory Group as well as various professional and practice networks. People who had spent some or all of their childhood in care were asked to complete the survey (hosted by Survey Monkey) and 84 people responded. It is impossible to know how representative the respondents’ views are of the wider care experienced population, instead the value of the survey results are that they offered an insight into some experiences and perspectives. These responses were valuable for the Review including informing debates about what change may be needed.
Figure one summarises the regions that care leavers responded from, with the majority of the 84 responding coming from the Midlands or Northern England (although this may not have been where their care experiences occurred). Overall the respondents were largely from England, with six respondents from Wales and six from Scotland. (For the purposes the chart below Scotland and Wales and the different regions are collectively represented, whilst recognising that Scotland and Wales are nations rather than regions.)