Article

Children to stay in care until 18

DEPARTMENT FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES News Release (2007/0176) issued by The Government News Network on 4 October 2007

The Government today pledged to stamp out the poor practice of asking children to leave care at the age of 16, before they are ready to live independently.

Eleven pilot projects across the country, costing an estimated £6m over three years, will explore how best to plan care around the needs of young people and give them a greater say over whether they stay in care until they are 18, or move out into independent flats or hostels.

Kevin Brennan, Minister for Children and Families said:

"We want to transform the lives of children in care, improve their educational attainment and give them the same chance in life as other children. As part of this we want to see them given more choice about their placements and to be in charge of when they leave care.

"Not all children are ready to live independently at the age of 16 - especially if they want to do A levels and consider going to university. However, whatever their future plans we know that stable placements and good care planning around the needs of the young person leads to better outcomes such as a reduction in these young people becoming NEET (not in education, employment, or training) which benefits society as a whole."

Local Authorities taking part in the pilots are: Bournemouth, Barnet, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Merton, North Tyneside, Oxfordshire, South Gloucestershire, Plymouth, Tower Hamlets and Warwickshire.

The Right2bCared4 pilot programme was first proposed in Care Matters, the Government's Green Paper for children in care and then, after receiving overwhelming support, the pilot was confirmed in the White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change. The programme will start in October 2007 and run for three years. Lessons learnt will then be shared with other local authorities to aid their planning for young people in care.

The amount of funding allocated to each authority varies according to factors such as the number of young people in care and the focus of each recommended pilot site. Some authorities are planning to allocate a significant amount of the funding to placement costs, whilst others are focussing more on the management and coordination of the care planning process for example by providing additional resources to support Independent Reviewing Officers and independent advocacy services.

NOTES TO EDITORS

These pilots were first set up in the Care Matters Green Paper and later confirmed in the White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change.

The Government is determined to improve the experiences of children in care. Despite efforts to support them, there remains a significant gap between the quality of life of young people in care and those raised in supportive families.

Bridging this gap requires urgent, sustained action across central and local government, from practitioners in all aspects of children and young people's lives, and from their carers, friends and family.

The Care Matters: Time for Change White Paper sets out the steps the Department will take, together with local delivery partners, to improve outcomes for children and young people in care. It builds on responses to the Green Paper Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care and the conclusions of four working groups established to investigate best practice in supporting those in care. The document is available from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/publications/timeforchange/

Three of the pilot authorities are also running the Virtual School Head pilots: Bournemouth; Merton and Warwickshire.

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