Scotland failing to provide adequate support for most vulnerable young people

The tragic death of William Lindsay at Polmont Young Offenders’ Institute is a damning indictment of the system when it comes to addressing the needs of our most damaged children and young people.

Too many children and young people in care, like William, are falling through the cracks. It is a poor reflectiononusasasocietythatthose children and young people who are care experienced are far more likely to have a mental health condition and are 20 times more likely to be dead by the age of 25, compared with those who have not been in care.

It is also shocking that we don’t have an accurate rollcall of those who have died in care. Care-experienced people will, however, rhyme off the names of their peers who are now dead, often through drink,drugs,suicideormurder.

The “root and branch” review of Scotland’s care system commissioned by the Scottish Government is to be welcomed, but will clearly take some time to deliver results. In the meantime we need, as a society, to do much more to support those who are care experienced, and that includes adequate mental health support.

In this context the Scottish Government introduced a policy in 2014 that councils should provide care for young people up to the age of 21, in the same type of accommodation that they have been in previously. However, according to responses from 20 councils following a freedom of information request, 3,117 young people were eligible for continuing care in July 2017 – but only 177 were offered, or had requested, the option.

These statistics highlight that nowhere near enough eligible young people are being supported to take up a continuing care placement. Care-experiencedchildrenare our children. The state is the parent and we’re all responsible for their care. Our taxes pay for it and we also all pay the price of their life chances being limited by poor health and opportunities.

There are real challenges and real problems in the system and it diminishes us as a society when we do not support the most vulnerable in our midst adequately.