A caring future

North Ayrshire Council is calling for Care Experienced people to be exempt from Council Tax. We welcome this as another step forward in helping those who leave care.

While this is an excellent example of Corporate Parents owning their responsibilities, it fixes only one symptom of a much larger issue.

The average age of people leaving care is 16-18, according to the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland, but the law says young people have the right to remain in care until

they are 21. It’s quite clear that there is a gap in provision.

This contrasts with those leaving the traditional family home, who tend to do so at 25 and beyond. A question remains as to why young people are then leaving what they feel is a secure and stable environment. Our members feel they live in a system that takes care of everything for them as a means of managing risk. A system which doesn’t reflect the process of growing up in a traditional family home. This can leave them exposed in a world where the rug is pulled out from under them. They’ve left a system which, in seeking to stop things happening to them, hasn’t been able to make enough things happen for them.

This means that people are being left with no guidance, no fall back and with nobody to turn to with life’s challenges. Our members tell us that this leads to them feeling isolated and it’s no surprise that 45 per cent of children in care are assessed as having mental health issues.

The current Independent Review of care in Scotland has the capacity to make a radical change to how people are cared for in Scotland. We hope that, whilst moves like this are welcomed and North Ayrshire Council is to be commended for showing leadership, we can be bolder still in our ambitions. We hope for a way of caring for young people that is based not only on protection but on love.

DUNCAN DUNLOP CEO Who Cares? Scotland

Oswald Street, Glasgow