Transcript Duncan Dunlop, CEO Who Cares? Scotland (with Caroline

Homelessness a
symptom of care?
Caroline, Duncan, David,
Gemma & Stuart
Who Cares? Scotland’s
Dream
A Scotland where all children and young people
with experience of care are understood, believed
in and given every opportunity to thrive.
A place where we hold the same aspirations for
care experienced children, as we do for our own.
We treat them the same.
What we’ll reflect on
• That homelessness is a symptom not a cause
• Why efforts to eradicate homelessness must
focus on young people with experience of care
• Whether our services are geared to respond to
the needs of young people with care
experience
• The solution lies in the continuity of stable,
nurturing and caring relationships
Corporate Parents:
Scottish Ministers
Local Authorities
Children’s Hearings Scotland
Principal Reporter
Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration
Health boards
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Scottish Qualifications Authority
Skills Development Scotland
Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland
Scottish Social Services Council
Scottish Sports Council
Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland
Scottish Police Authority
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Scottish Court Service
Scottish Legal Aid Board
Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland
Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
Scottish Housing Regulator
Bòrd na Gàidhlig Creative Scotland
Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council
A body which is a “post-16 education body” or a “regional strategic body”
for the purposes of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005
What type of parents are we?
• Health & well-being: 1/2 of all looked after children will experience
mental health issues, compared to 1 in 10 of all 5 to 16 year olds.
• Education: 1% of care leavers go onto university, compared to 37%
of all young people.
• 0.5% of children looked after at home leave school with 5 or more
standard grades, compared to 56% of the general children
population.
• Offending: Approximately 28% of the adult prison population have
come from a care background.
• Employability: No more than 30% will sustain a positive destination
after care and are likely to face long-term unemployment and
permanent exclusion from the labour market.
• Premature Death: Care leavers are up to 20X more likely to die
prematurely.
The role of housing
• At least 1/3 of all care leavers will
experience homelessness
• An estimated third of homeless
people were formerly in care
(The Centre for Social Justice 2008)
Young people with care experience & youth
participation
What Care Leavers can achieve…
What would help after leaving care?
In their words
More support. It all happened too quickly. I went
from lots of people in care to just me in a
•
Important to understand
their visiting
care journey
affects
their
flat with how
a worker
me once
a week
.
In the area
I hadn’t chosen; I wasn’t ready, I had
outcomes upon leaving
care.
been in care all my life.
It should have happened
They want care
more slowly.
I
done with them
needed more support and was left to get on with
it. Throughcare was a joke and no help to me at all and
no one from the unit kept in touch with me
instead of to them.
and
I wish all this was different as I needed a lot
of support from these people and got none.
I wish I had been
taught more about
the real world, like affording food etc
and living on my own.
Getting it right – access &
sustainment
Care Leavers stories
Caroline, Gemma,
Stuart & David
The role of housing
Key needs:
Financial
Resources
Support
Connections
Return to
care when
needed
Upcoming challenges &
opportunities
Positive developments:
• Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland)
Order 2012, will give an estimated 3,000 more people a year
the right to settled accommodation.
• The Housing Support Services (Homelessness) (Scotland)
Regulations 2012.
• Children & Young People Bill proposals.
However:
How much will this prevent care leavers from becoming
homeless if we don’t change how we view and work with
them?
The challenges for us
Need: C&YP Bill to legislate for care leavers Right to access
The
most important need of all:
support up to 25-years-old
Need: Care leavers only leave their care setting care when they feel
To
ensure that young
prepared
people who leave care don’t
Need: To increase the types & locations of accommodation
feel
they
are
alone;
have no
available
for care
leavers
to access
options to fall back on;
Need: Care leavers to be supported to sustain their
have
no alternatives; that those who cared
accommodation by people of their choosing
for them whilst they were being ‘looked
Need: To make services attractive enough to prevent care leavers from
after’
turned
back
on onthem
for
going offhaven’t
the radar
– leads totheir
sofa surfing
/ sleeping
the street
/
not accessing help
good.
How do we do this?
Let’s not assume what we are doing is right, but
Start
by
taking
the
pledge
to
listen:
that anything is possible
http://www.whocaresscotland.org
Let’s work within our sector, and across other
/pledge/
sectors: Health, Education, Employability etc
Let’s listen to young people with care experience
Our
pledge
to you:
you believe young
and create
solutions
withIfthem
people
with
care
experience
can
help
Let’s start from what is working for young people
you
look
at your
work
differently
in care
and build
on those
relationships
whichthen
give stability,
and care
young
people
please
get nurture
in touch.
We for
are
committed
over
the long-term
to
improving
their lives.
Thank-you - Please take the pledge
[email protected]
0141 226 4441
www.whocaresscotland.org