Author: David Graham

Figures released to the Times reveal that 450 of the UK’s most vulnerable have died over the past decade The government has refused to ban care placements for 16 to 17-year-olds in “unregulated” settings. The government has revealed that 450 of the UK’s most vulnerable children have died in care over the last decade, including 50 that were housed in controversial unregulated accommodation. Figures released to The Times through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that 400 “looked after” under-18s died in regulated care placements between 2011 and 2021 — a figure that amounts to 130 deaths per 100,000 children in care. That is more than 16 times higher than… Read More

On the 23rd May the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its long awaited final report. Overall we are disappointed with the final conclusions of the review. Whilst we support some of the recommendations the review has missed the opportunity to dramatically improve the lives of young people in care and care leavers. You can read our initial thoughts on the report at the bottom of this page. This is based on discussions with the trustees and staff team. The report is very lengthy and it has a number of supporting documents. We intend to produce a more detailed response in the coming months. The government has up to… Read More

You are all invited to remember the life of our beloved Jakeb.  The funeral will take place at 10am on Friday 21 January 2022 at the Old Chapel of The Manchester Crematorium (M21 7GZ). The funeral will be a brief event and will be followed by a longer reception from 11am to 2pm at a venue nearby (address to be confirmed).  You are welcome to speak and share your memories of Jakeb. Please RSVP to help arrange the speakers and the catering arrangements: thanosch@yahoo.com One of the many causes close to Jakeb’s heart was the wellbeing of people with Neurofibromatosis.  In lieu of flowers, you might wish to make a… Read More

Read The Care Leavers Association response to the government Review of Children’s Social Care Case For Change. The Case For Change itself was just over 80 pages long and covered many different aspects of the children’s social care sector. Given the current strain on our staffing resources we only responded to areas where we felt we had prior knowledge and experience. The Case For Change does highlight some important points that we welcome. However, there are significant areas that the Case For Change has neglected. And throughout the report there are numerous instances where major assumptions have been made and where positions have been taken based on ideology rather than… Read More

Today Friday 15th January 2021 the government finally launched a review of the care system. “The Care Leavers Association welcomes today’s announcement from the UK government of the start of the promised review of children’s social care. We look forward to helping the review understand the long-standing failures of major aspects of the current care system and contributing to the development of a far more positive future for children in care and care leavers. We especially commend the statement that “Running throughout the review will be the voices and experiences of children, young people or adults who have been looked-after, or who have received help or support from a social… Read More

Just wanted to share details about Care in the time of COVID a project for the care experienced community which has just been launched by care leavers at Oxford University. This project explores the day to day lives of care experienced adults in the UK during COVID-19. They would like to know how the care community is coping and what helps them. They want to record their experiences during covid in history. This involves submitting a diary entry and completing a short survey the participants well-being and how they’re coping – which should take no more than 15-20mins to complete. Diaries can be written (200 to 600 words), a video or audio entry (3 to 5 mins), a song, music, spoken word or a poem you have written… Read More