National Care Leavers Week Blog: The ‘Radiator Key’ Challenge

National Care Leavers Week Blog: The ‘Radiator Key’ Challenge

Are you a professional working with care experienced young people?  Are you someone with the power to change policy and practice around supporting young people leaving care?

What can you do that will change the experiences of care experienced young people?

Hannah McCowen, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Manager, Catch22

This National Care Leavers Week, we are publishing the ‘In Their Own Words’ reports – Five reports from the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum (YPBMF)  that paint a picture of what life is like in 2024 for young people leaving care – based on a survey of over 200 care experienced individuals, across the UK.  Here are some of the headline findings:

  • 77% reported they were struggling to buy food at least some of the time.
  • 62% find it difficult to get the mental health support they need.
  • 31% have a formal diagnosis, but a further 35% believe they are neurodivergent with many saying it is difficult to get the diagnosis or support that they need.
  • The majority of care experienced individuals do not know what support is available after the age of 21.
  • Mental health challenges and transport issues are some of the most common barriers to accessing community services and support.

The reports have been coproduced with care experienced young people from YPBMF from the start of the process – selecting the topics, designing the survey questions, analysing the results and sharing solutions they believe will make a difference.

What’s the ‘Radiator Key’ Challenge?

Each year, as I bleed the air out of my radiators in my home with a radiator key, it strikes me that such a small piece of metal could make such a difference to the temperature of my home and my experience of living there.

While none of us may be able to address all the challenges care experienced young people face, I believe we all hold a small radiator key of influence – We may be able to impact an individual care experienced young person through listening well and opening up doors for them; we may have the opportunity to influence at an organization level the way we support care experienced young people who are applying to work for the organization or we may be able to remove barriers around the cost of living at a local authority or national level.

As you explore these five reports, I invite you to ask yourself

Which radiator key am I holding? 

What can I do that will change the experiences of care experienced young people?

Now let’s hear from the YPBMF Champions and Legends to give you a taster of the reports:

Communities of Support Report

“Specifically for care experienced individuals, communities of support are arguably even more important as by nature of being care experienced, you may have been uprooted from one environment to another.”

Dyllan, YPBMF Champion, Foreword, Communities of Support Report

 

Safe and Affordable Homes Report

“Throughout this survey, we saw that a lot of care experienced young people are placed in accommodation in areas with a lot of crime and people who are unsafe. Many are left to deal with this on their own, which affects their mental health.  No adult wants to feel unsafe and scared in their own house or neighbourhood, so why is it ok for care experienced young people and adults to feel this way?”

Esla, YPBMF Champion, Foreword, Safe and Affordable Accommodation Report

Cost of Living Report

“This is still a major problem for care experienced individuals today especially when living independently or without the same family support networks that many others can fall back on….. I hope this report helps you understand what it would be like to walk in our shoes and helps you think about what you can do to help change our lives.”

Mark, YPBMF Champion, Foreword, Cost of Living Report

Mental Health & Health Report

“It is so important for care experienced young people to access health and mental health care, yet the systems that exist often struggle to meet their unique needs.  From moving areas and finding new support services to long wwaiting lists and services that don’t fully understand their circumstances, care experienced individuals often encounter significant obstacles when trying to get the help they need.”

Nathan, YPBMF Legend, Foreword, Mental Health & Health Report

Support after 21 and 25 Report

“Post 21 & 25 support is important to me because I’m approaching 25 and have been in the social system for 20 years. I rely on the care from my leaving care team, these people are my rock, they know everything about me. I know the financial support is going to end soon but it’s so much more than just financial. I turn 25 soon and my PA and leaving care team have all reassured me that they aren’t washing their hands of me, and this gives me a sense of security. Not everyone has that, but everyone should have that. It should be mandatory.”

Reece, YPBMF Legend, Foreword, Support after 21 and 25 years of age Report

This National Care Leavers Week…

Please go and read the reports  and watch the videos of YPBMF sharing the key messages and do share them with others – As well as painting a clear picture of what life is like in 2024 for care experienced individuals, they demonstrate the power and potential in coproducing solutions, with care experienced young people. I’d like to thank everybody who took part in the survey and in the process of coproducing the survey, event and report.

We have an opportunity at the moment with a new government, together with the highest public awareness and empathy around care experience that we’ve ever had to really make a difference.   There’s an urgency to ensure that we can make a difference for care experienced young people today, as well as those who will leave care in the future.

And so back to the ‘Radiator Key’ Challenge:

Which Radiator key are you holding? What can you do that will change the experiences of care experienced young people?

 

The Young People’s Benchmarking Forum (YPBMF) coproduced the ‘In Their Own Words’ survey, ran an In Their Own Words event in July for over 300 decision and policy makers and have now released the five In Their Own Words reports.  YPBMF are now looking for opportunities to share the results of the survey at different conferences and forums.  If you can help us get these messages out, please contact nlcbf@catch-22.org.uk.

The theme for this year’s National Care Leavers Week is ‘All of Us, We Are One.’  More information including social media assets can be found Here.

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