It was finally the day Craig had been waiting for. Like most young people leaving home for the first time, he was excited about what lay ahead. In most cases, parents will help their children pack their things, move into their new home, and only be a phone call away if anything goes wrong. But Craig's situation was different. Instead he was walking away from the children’s home where he had spent his last few years in care.
This made him even more eager to get his own independence. He recalls: "I couldn’t wait at first. I thought 'no more keeping to other peoples rules anymore’ and was really excited for the freedom." Having gone into the care system as a six year old, he had several different foster placements before going into residential care as a teenager, which he admits was not a very stable upbringing.
Ready to embrace his new life of freedom, Craig, who was 18 at the time, applied to live in a foyer in his hometown of Sunderland. In foyers, care leavers will have their own room and shared facilities, and will have onsite support to help them adjust to independent living. He said: “I’d been told it was a good idea to apply because you get more support, but I didn’t get it in time and ended up in a hostel. It wasn’t as bad as I expected – you get your own bedsit, it’s not just a bed. But it doesn’t have the support like the foyer does. I kind of just felt left on my own.”
Living in the hostel, Craig was shocked when he discovered the reality of living alone. Many care leavers struggle to cope living independently, and consequently research by the homeless charity Crisis shows that almost a third of young homeless people have been in care. These figures raise the question of whether those leaving care are receiving enough support and what is causing so many of them to end up homeless.
Contrary to his expectations, Craig, who is now 22, admitted that he got very lonely. He said: “That was the worst thing about it. It can send you a bit crazy.
"The hardest part of it was the first Christmas Day on my own. It’s hard work because even with support off social workers it’s not the same as round the clock family to call on.”
Rufus Lacey from the Who Cares? Trust, a charity for children in care and those leaving care, admitted that this is a common experience. He said: “Many care leavers will find living alone for the first time overwhelming and do not have the family or support network to turn to when things go wrong.
“It’s common that they will have moved between multiple placements during their time in care, often through no fault of their own. Once this more intensive support is removed when they leave care, it can be a huge adjustment to make.”
To help young people make this transition, social workers begin independence planning with 16-18 year olds and at 18, upon leaving care, they are given a personal advisor or social worker, who will support them until the age of 21, or 25 if they remain in education. The map below shows the leaving care service information for each council area:
Councils also offer a Staying Put arrangement, where those in foster placements can stay with their foster carers up until the age of 21 to make the transition easier. Unfortunately Craig was not entitled to this as he was in residential care. Instead his social worker visited and helped him with budgeting, which he admits he struggled with.
Natasha Adley, a social worker specialising in the support of children and young people, admitted that budgeting is a major problem for those leaving care: "Many of those leaving the care system might not have the best experience of being in care, they feel more adult than others their age and want their independence. However, they often then find down the line that they don’t have enough skills to live and cope on their own. Part of this is practical skills such as budgeting which means they might fall into rent arrears. Many are suddenly hit with bills and don’t know how to deal with it, which can lead to them losing their tenancy if they don’t get the right support."
Craig's social worker also helped him to keep his tenancy in his first house after spending a few months in the hostel. He struggled to keep it in good condition and was at risk of being evicted when she stepped in and negotiated a second chance for him. From then on his visits became more regular and he received more support.
He said: "I'm glad I managed in the end. I felt much better for it."
Situations like this highlight the importance of the leaving care service to young people, without this kind of support many more could face becoming homeless. But Natasha Adley added that it is not always possible for care leavers to get the help they need like Craig did. She said: "I think the average is around every six weeks for them to be visited but it depends on the council. Obviously a good social worker you would expect that if a young person needs more help they would be visited more often."
"But I have heard of situations where a care leaver complains that they can never get hold of their personal advisor." She also said that sometimes young people can struggle to tell their social worker when they need support.
Arguably, for a care leaver living independently for the first time, a visit from a personal advisor an average of every six weeks may not be enough to support them, or to get an idea of whether they need help.
To find out how stretched those working on the leaving care service are, a Freedom of Information request was sent to all of the local authorities in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham asking for the caseload of their personal advisors. Gateshead council had the highest caseload per personal advisor, with each one having around 26 care leavers. Meanwhile South Tyneside had the lowest number at an average of a caseload of 10. With high caseloads in some areas it could be argued that social workers do not have enough time to provide the support some young people need.
Charles Shipley, Team Manager of Wellbeing Care and Learning at Newcastle Council, said: "We have a great relationship with Your Homes Newcastle which means we have access to properties around the city. We also have young people in Home Group tenancies… Staying Put and supported lodgings are also available to the care leavers."
Rufus Lacey praised the work of supported lodgings, saying: “[They] give care leavers the chance to experience living independently, but in a supported environment. This can mean, if they make mistakes, they can learn from them, rather than find themselves at risk of homelessness."
While Craig was not fortunate enough to be placed in supported lodgings, luckily for him his social worker helped him with budgeting and maintaining his tenancy. But his situation highlights the vulnerable situation many care leavers can find themselves in which can so often lead to homelessness. He maintained that life after care is still hard, adding: “I think in general most 18 year olds don't have to fend for themselves because they've got family on hand for help and money or even just support if you’re sad – it’s hard not having that.”
*Craig's name has been changed to protect his identity
