'You're basically abandoned': How care leavers are forced from foster homes as soon as they turn 18

Duncan came back to his foster home from college one day and found all his bags were packed. It hadn’t even been a week since he turned 18, and his foster carers were happy for him to stay. He’d been living with them since he was 11. But social services said it wasn’t an option. The police would be called if he didn’t go calmly. That night he found himself in supported accommodation, on his own in another town. It’s not an uncommon experience among care leavers – Duncan was experiencing what’s known as the care cliff. There is a rapid drop-off in support once teenagers in care turn 18. In many cases, the option of staying with foster families is taken away.

“I was completely devastated,” he said. “I honestly felt abandoned by social services.”

Introduced in 2014, the Staying Put scheme allows young adults to remain with foster carers and avoid the care cliff if they can come to an agreement. It provides some financial support and allows for a gradual move to independence, instead of the abrupt change forced on Duncan.

When they leave the system, care leavers face a range of challenges. A lack of familial support, guidance and financial security contributes to 28% of care leavers saying their upbringing makes it harder to get a job. Care experienced young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than their peers. Care leavers make up 25% of the adult homeless population.

For many young people, the date on which you turn 18 can simply mean you have to wait longer than your classmates to buy a drink at the pub. But for those in care, the date can be defining: if your birthday is in the middle of exams, say, you might find your life uprooted at the time you need to focus, putting your chances of progressing through education in jeopardy.

Often, the lack of a Staying Put agreement means young people have to leave as funding stops and the system pushes them towards independence. Young people may simply be told it is “not possible” for them to remain where they are.

In cases where both the young person and foster carers are happy for things to remain as they are, however, it may be that foster carers do not want to fight their local authority and put their future ability to foster children in danger.

Staying Put agreements significantly reduces care leavers’ chances of becoming homeless, according to a report by King’s College London researcher Michael Sanders and the Centre for Homelessness Impact, published today.

But a lack of awareness and variations between local authorities means uptake is not universal. In 44% of cases where Staying Put agreements didn’t go ahead, local policies or lack of payment were to blame, a 2020 report by Action for Children found.

An expansion of the scheme by 13% would prevent 300 care leavers from experiencing homelessness each year, the report’s authors found. They also recommended more funding from Westminster to help local authorities put more Staying Put agreements in place.

‘I didn’t have a choice’

In the hostel, people were banging on Duncan’s door at 3am the first night, looking for people. On one occasion he was hit in the face by a bottle someone had thrown, and drug dealing was common. During the year he lived there, he struggled to find work.

“You try and keep yourself to yourself, but it ends up coming to your door,” he said.

Before being removed from his foster family, Duncan said he was given little preparation for the independence that was suddenly thrust on him. He was on his own, in the space of a week.

Now 25, Duncan reflected on how it had made it harder for him to trust in relationships. He still worries he might get removed from places against his will. “It’s still tough, being 25 now,” he said. “You’re basically abandoned. You’ve got to do everything yourself.”

The Staying Put scheme will make a difference for care leavers now, even though it is too late for him, Duncan said: “It gives kids in care an actual say over it.

“I didn’t have a choice. But nowadays kids have a choice. They’re not forcibly removed.”

Zara’s story

Soon after turning 18, Zara was heading off to university. Then Covid struck, lockdown changed the experience, and she found herself struggling. Her university didn’t provide any support for care experienced students.

“I hated university, it got me so down,” she said. “I was in one of the deepest, darkest states I’d ever been in.”

Unlike Duncan, Zara had been allowed to stay with her foster mum, thanks to a Staying Put agreement, so she returned home at Christmas and decided university wasn’t for her.

“It meant I did have a home to go back to. It meant I wasn’t suddenly on my own when things didn’t go to plan,” she said. “Having that safety blanket provided me with some security during that time.”

Now almost 23, she’s graduated from a different university, moved in with her boyfriend and is getting ready to get married. Throughout it all, her foster mum has been there to support her.

“I’ve known her for almost a decade. She’s seen me grow up and we know each other very well now. I wish more people had that security, especially when they are aiming for things like university,” she said.

While she was studying, having a place to go meant she could go home during the holidays – and in particular the festive period.

“The main thing for me was knowing I had somewhere to go at Christmas,” she said.

“I knew that I could always go to her if I needed to chat, or just needed someone to talk to, and I think that really, really helped. And I can’t imagine what it would have been like for me if I had faced that care cliff.”

Zara and Duncan both work with Become, the charity for children and young care leavers, which is campaigning to end the care cliff, and the automatic expectation of independence for children approaching 18.

“It’s something I’m so grateful I didn’t have to experience, but so heartbroken when I speak to so many care experienced people who wished they had something like that, or didn’t get the chance to experience that,” said Zara.

‘Take up has been good but could be better’

Staying Put reduces the risk of care leavers becoming homeless by providing continuity and a stable environment for young people to make their path to independent adulthood, said Ligia Teixeira, CEO of the Centre for Homelessness Impact.

“We think the take up for Staying Put has been good but could be better,” Teixeira told the Big Issue.

“One of the reasons for this is financial. Foster carers will continue getting paid, as it is a job as well as a vocation, which means there is an added cost when a young person stays on. However this cost is outweighed when you consider how much Staying Put lowers the risk of homelessness in the future.”

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