Improving the lives of children in care and care leavers is core to the responsibility of being a corporate parent; a promise that all councillors make when they are sworn in.
According to Birmingham Children’s Trust, our care population rose to 2,094 by the end of March 2022, representing a rate of 72 per 10,000 young people – a figure that is set to increase in 2023.
Department for Education figures suggest that most care leavers are not working or studying. Just 24 per cent of care leavers aged 19 to 21 in 2020/21 were tagged as being in education or employment.
Small wonder when you consider the overwhelming responsibility and challenge of finding somewhere to live, money to travel and work opportunities, piled onto young shoulders.
We are on a quest to help care leavers build a life, post-care. As a starting point, we want all care leavers in jobs or apprenticeships to get free public transport and free medication up to the age of 25.
Care leavers also need access to a full package of mental health support, with specific focus on trauma and past harm, given that their experiences put them at greater risk of poor mental health.
We’re delighted that, in January, Birmingham City Council passed our Liberal Democrat motion urging the council to lobby the West Midlands Combined Authority and the UK Government to deliver on these ‘asks’.
We will continue to advocate for those in care and care leavers, as we seek to dismantle the barriers they face and offer solutions to provide a more equitable environment for them.
Care leavers have a lot of strengths to give to education and the job market. Many have resilience in abundance, but they also have life experience, judgement skills, problem solving, and more.
Helping these young people with travel and medical expenses, and ensuring they have good mental health support, will remove some of the barriers they experience trying to access the opportunities afforded to others.