#KeepCaringto18 – a history of care into adulthood

April 2021 will see the world’s first ‘Care Experienced History Month’ aimed at recognising, celebrating and commemorating the lives of care-experienced people. It will also highlight the issues faced by those currently in and leaving the care system.

The initiative is a partnership between organisations and individuals around the world and will seek to build communities and increase knowledge of the history of care.

– Care Experienced History Month - Coram Story 

Coinciding with the first ever Care Experienced History Month, the Together Trust's campaign in collaboration with Article39, Become, Just For Kids Law, The Care Leavers Association, and many other organisations, calls on the government to keep caring for children in care up to the age of 18.

Following recommendations from a report by the Children’s Commissioner for England in 2020 into unregulated accommodation for young people in care, new legislation will ban councils from placing children aged 15 or younger in unregulated accommodation. Yet provision of such for those aged 16 to 17 will not be given, as ministers believe it is not necessary to provide care and maintain a regulated system of accommodation for children beyond the age of 15.

This decision has failed many care experienced young people. The Together Trust and its allies are calling for provision of care up to the age of 18.

Click the banner to sign our petition or read more about the campaign here.

Throughout the charity's existence, not only has there been a history of maintaining bonds with care leavers through regular contact and reunions (more on these in future blogs), the charity has a history of continued care for young people up to the age of 21.

Homes such as the Rosen Hallas Training Home in Cheetham Hill cared for young women up to the age of 18, but there is evidence of individuals up to the age of 21 (and in at least one instance 22) having been admitted because of their urgent need of support. Similarly, the Working Boys' and Young Men's Homes in Strangeways and Cheetham Hill, respectively, cared for young men over 18. 

One of the features of this branch of our work has been that a number of the elder lads having become self-supporting, are being gradually provided by the Committee with safe lodgings.

– on the Working Boys' Home, taken from the charity's Annual Report for 1880

It is not uncommon to turn through our early admission books and see young people aged 16 to 19 years, and indeed older, entering care; some either entered the homes with the intention of receiving training for employment or emigration to Canada, but there are many who entered the care of the charity owing to circumstances which meant that they were no longer able to reside in a secure family unit with their parents or relatives.

Elizabeth entered the charity's care aged 18, owing to a breakdown in relations with her father.

Annie entered the charity's care after her mother stated she could no longer afford to keep her when Annie lost her job due to ill health.

Cases like Elizabeth and Annie's highlight how, even in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a need to support young people into early adulthood just as there is today. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that young people are living in their parental home for longer than previous generations, so why should young people in care receive less support?

If you believe that the UK government should #KeepCaringto18 share the hashtag on social media and pledge your support here.