Care leavers’ transitions to independence

And I’ve noticed that a lot of... some young people get lost, like they just get forgotten about, or when you hit 21, in our local authority, you can leave the system, but I’ve noticed some of us leave without wanting to. Like I’ve got someone today who said, oh, no, he’s been cut off from the leaving care team even though he didn’t want to. We have a choice, thankfully: up until we’re 25 we can still receive that support, but they... I think it’s a case of if they choose that we don’t need that support, they can cut us off, so it’s not really fair. I feel like the support needs to be till the age 30 To being honest, because at 25, we all develop at different stages. Some of us are still needing that support at 25 and it’s just not there.

Yeah

Financial support as well.

And then it... again, it comes back down to funding, so they might have the funding to do that – we don’t. But then we’re doing this that they’re not doing, so you know it kind of balances out.

OK. So you’ve noticed that some of the other local authorities might be... they might provide something that’s different but—

Well, like a good example of it is our local authority, you work with them until you’re 25: in [local authority], it’s 28.

Oh, OK.

So it’s stuff like that. We have bus passes, you have bus passes up until you’re 21 here: again, in places like [local authority], [local authority], they’re 20-... 27, 28.

And it’s... it’s just... it’s stuff like that, it’s just little things like that which—

It sounds like—

—would be beneficial, but again it’s... it’s all... obviously [local authority] and [local authority] are a little bit more affluicient [sic] I don’t know what the word is, they have higher funding compared to... the South has higher funding compared to the North, without wanting to start a north/south of like war.

[chuckles] Yeah.

The South, it’s more known for having higher funding, so they might be able to do more stuff that we can’t.

So I think one thing that really needs to be addressed just in general is counselling. So, every... like, you know, trauma, you can process trauma in your brain when you’re basically ready to, the older you are the more likely it is it’s gonna... you’re gonna be able to process that trauma, and when you’re a care kid you have access to counselling when you’re young, but... which I did as well, but I didn’t get anything out of it. I didn’t want counselling, I wasn’t old enough to understand why I was there, what I would have gotten out of it, or even be able to unlock that part of my brain that would have been able to process that trauma. Whereas now I’m older, I’m really struggling with them, like the repercussions of needing that support, and I think that is something that also really needs to be looked into for care leavers. Because there’s no access to like free counselling for care leavers, which actually I think if anyone needs counselling it should be care kids, right? And again, like, that childhood trauma really like shapes you as a person, especially as a young adult, and you need that support with that and I just think like obviously it’s good to have access to it when you’re a teenager, or when you’re a kid, but you’re not gonna get out of it what you would get out of it doing between the ages of 18 and 21, 22, you know? I think mental health has always been something that I’ve personally really struggled with and that’s only been... that’s been the only thing that I’ve like actively needed help with.

I think it would have been nice just to sort of... it’s hard, I know, because obviously PAs aren’t... you know, the care leaver team, they’re not massive and they’ve got loads on their caseload, but like they’re not always there, and it’s not their fault, and it’s not that, but it’s not like social workers where it’s statutory, every four weeks you’ve got to see the child at least, you know, it’s sometimes it would feel like forever till I’d see my PA, and I’d sometimes... I don’t know whether this is just a me thing, but you get fed up of asking for help all the time, you feel like a lost cause, ‘cause it’s like, you know, you get to… and I’m not proud, or anything like that, I’m not like a: ‘du-du-du-du-du’ I’m not gonna do this, ’cause I will ask for help when I need it, but that will be on my like last legs. Like, if I’ve literally got no food in and there is nothing I can do, I will literally beg for a little food voucher, or whatever, you know, a food parcel, but you really get fed up with asking for help constantly ’cause it just makes you feel like you can’t do anything yourself anyway, and then that makes you feel sort of little and then you feel like: ‘if... if I can’t do this by myself, then what the hell am I gonna do?’ Like if I can’t get myself out of this mess, or if I can’t even afford food by myself, and I’ve got no one to fall back on, your mental health does take a toll in the sense of you’ve got... what are you gonna do, like how are you gonna grow up from this, like?

So, my old social worker, she’s great, she wanted to carry on seeing me, but after 18 she can’t... couldn’t see ’cause of the... I don’t know; apparently, it’s  not appropriate. So, this charity basically makes it so it’s not inappropriate and it’s them relationships are being monitored for two years after 18 and then that’s when you can go off without having someone to monitor it and, you know, doing feedback and stuff like that. So, it’s really good with that because like you don’t have to... ’cause I think with care... people in care, they definitely need... when they leave care, they kinda do get left on their own, where this charity does way more than social work actually, and the government actually does for care leavers, if you know what I mean? So, I think that helps.

A lot of the... like a lot of my social workers, and I’ve got personal advisors, like, I think a lot of the time they don’t really know what to do when it comes to uni. Because although they might’ve been themselves, not a lot of foster kids go to university: three percent of foster kids go to university, and that’s really not a lot. So from them, I haven’t had a lot of support. I’ve only had support from my care... from my foster mum because she went, but if she hadn’t have gone, I probably wouldn’t have any support at all because nobody would really know how to do that, other than my college in which they provide a lot of like talks and... etc, so that you can apply. But I don’t really... I feel like... I don’t know, I feel like I’d like to be provided with a bit more information about how I’ll be supported in the future, from my personal advisor, or social worker, etc. So that I don’t have to worry as much now about then, because I know that I might be OK independence-wise, but I might not get a job for a little bit, and financially it might be a bit of a kick because I’m losing both my jobs and the Universal Credit, so I won’t have any money practically for the first month or so. And I don’t... and I mean just... and like just going to college, it took me four months to get another job. So just stuff like... just learning about how I’m gonna be supported once I go to uni, pretty much.

So basically, there’s just so many things that you’re entitled to in care, you’re not told about, and I think when you start care you should have a massive like book, or information leaflet saying, “You’re entitled to this, your foster care... care... carer can't do this, can't do this, can't do this, can't do this,” the same way they give us a leaflet saying, “You can’t do this, you can’t do this, you can’t do this.”

’cause like, I had one foster carer and she’d bought me clothes, and then she’d gotten tired with me and she threw it back in my face saying, “I buy you clothes, you know, I treat you really well.” And later on I found out that any clothes she buys me – if she keeps the receipt – she’ll get it reimbursed, and it’s like, ‘well, you didn’t buy me clothes then.’

The care… there was a care transition support team at [city] University, and actually they got involved even before I came here because I received a contextual offer because of my care… well, they’re aware that I’m wasn’t… didn’t quite meet the criteria for that support. But, they spoke to [city] University and they said that I’m eligible anyway, and, ‘cos I only, I was only just off meeting the illegibility criteria by a few days, and so they just let me, they let me have the support anyway. And I do, I haven’t really liked taking advantage of the support as much as I could have. But, there definitely is that support system in place, because they do email me a lot about, for example, there are like these events you can go to and that will facilitate meeting other care leavers, like social events on campus, and, there are also… you also get like first choice of accommodation, and, you get a bursary, a care leavers’ bursary, two grand a year and that’s really good. Yeah, there is a lot of support actually available. So, care transitions team and… so they help you… they just help you like transition into uni life, really. And I had this… yeah, yeah, I just… I haven’t really made the most of the support. But it’s definitely there if I want it.

So, I have a counsellor. It’s actually the one that I had at 6th form. Once I got to college, they have a counsellor within my college, rather than the uni, main university service. And actually, I tried speaking to, she was really lovely, but again, it’s that issue where, they don’t have that lived experience. It feels very like blanket approach. Sort of, I remember starting the session where she said usually we give students three sessions and if they need more they can go to the wider university service. And I finished telling her my circumstances and she went, ‘Yeah you can have unlimited counselling sessions.’ [Laughs] It was like, the fact that you sort of have to grapple for unlimited mental health support even though technically the university has already agreed to no cap on counselling is a bit rubbish. But I, I just found it wasn’t working out. She wasn’t really trained to understand the difficulties that care experience or estranged that it presents. 

Even if the stakes aren’t high, it feels like that because it sometimes feels like you’ve gotta get it right the first time otherwise you’re never gonna get it right at all, like or it’s not gonna help. Like, if I mess up on let’s say Universal Credit, if I mess up on a worksheet on... to set some... a Universal Credit claim, right? There’s no one that can check it for me or make sure that I’ve got the ability… that I’ve done it. I mean I’ll, I’ll be... I’ll be honest with you, a lot of them are... academic-wise, English I still struggle with, and don’t get me wrong, I’m typing assessments, but like, you know, how I read and write, and stuff, is a bit of a struggle because I just didn’t have that education, and stuff, because you don’t really have time for education when you’re going through God knows what, and I feel like a lot of forms, and these things, just people assume we’re quite competent, or assume that we’ve got it altogether and we can do X-Y-Z, and in reality we’re just trying our God damn best, and really, really worried for when it doesn’t work out, and like it just... it’s just hard.

I feel like sometimes the support from the charities that I work with and the leaving care team, sometimes feels like it’s short term just to get you to where you need to be to tick the boxes, so then they can go and prioritise other people who aren’t ticking the boxes, which I understand, because the caseloads, they need to have more PAs who are qualified, emotionally and physically, and not just ticking the boxes, but they need to actually be able to work with the care leavers. We need to have more of that so that we can actually long-term support them till they’re 25, and not just sit in the background till like when you need them when you’re at your worst.

Yeah, I mean, I wish they would have kind of... [sighs] like, the period between face-to-face visits, I wish there had been more contact, like, better communication, better support. It doesn’t even have to be much, but, like... I don’t know, like, an update or a message once a week saying, “How are you? Is there anything I can do?” Like, literally a text message. It doesn’t have to be much. I just wish I had something, you know?

And, like, as well, my PA is my emergency contact, because I don’t have anyone else, so she’s my next of kin, but if she never answers the phone, what am I supposed to do? You know, so it’s just all these kind of things that are a huge struggle when it comes to that. But, like, I just wish she was easier to get ahold of, like, the one person that is supposed to be dealing with my entire life, and yet she’s so difficult to get ahold of on any day that isn’t, like, the one day every two months that she comes to see me. Because chances are, on that day, everything will be fine. And it’s like, what am I supposed to do if something goes wrong? And I just wish I’d been given a bit more, like, detailed support of: “If I don’t answer the phone, you can call this person. Or if I don’t answer the phone, we have a duty line for care leavers, or something,” you know? So just things like that.

Or, like, when you’re on leave, tell me you’re going on leave. Or if you’re off sick, I don’t know, have someone else fill in for you in meetings and things like that, and just don’t... don’t not show up at all. Like, things like that, I just wish there was communication, even if it was a bare minimum – I don’t mind – I just wish there was something, basically.