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Last week was National Care Leavers Week, with the theme ‘All of Us, We are One.’ It’s been a week of celebrating care experienced young people through events across the country, the lighting up of municipal buildings on Thursday 31st October and #NCLW adverts on Channel 4. To mark the culmination of this important week of awareness, Hannah McCowen, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum Manager for Catch22, shares the voices of care experienced young people working with her organisation.

To mark National Care Leavers Week at the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum at Catch22, we are publishing our ‘In Their Own Words’ reports – five reports from the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum 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; and
• mental health challenges and transport issues are some of the most common barriers to accessing community services and support.

The reports have been co-produced with care experienced young people from our Young People’s Benchmarking Forum who were involved throughout the process. Their involvement included:

• choosing the five topics as priority areas for attention and action
• designing the surveys
• analysing the results of the findings and identifying local and national asks for each topic
• sharing the key findings and asks at the ‘In Their Own Words’ event in July, with over 300 decision and policy makers
• writing the forewords for each report
• deciding on the content for the reports, including examples of good practice, and
• delivering presentations on the findings to multiple audiences including Ofsted Inspectors and National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum’s, Mental Health and Care Leavers Community of Practice.

Over the next few weeks, the members of our Forum will be sharing the five reports at a number of conferences. They are looking for opportunities to share their messages far and wide.

The five reports cover multiple aspects of a care leaver’s daily life, from community support like addressing travel costs and access to activities, to support through national programmes like Staying Put and Staying Close.

Click here for the full press release