Children’s social care system failing young people as they enter adulthood, MPs and peers warn

Young people leaving the care system are being left to navigate adult life without the support and relationships they need, with a parliamentary committee warning that many face an abrupt “care cliff” when they reach adulthood.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has called for widespread reform of children’s social care in England after concluding that the human rights of children and young people receiving support are not always being respected.

Around 400,000 children in England are involved with the social care system at any one time, including nearly 84,000 who are looked after by local authorities.

The committee’s report examined the experiences of children in care, care leavers and children and families receiving support from social care, with evidence highlighting problems ranging from unsuitable accommodation and difficulties accessing mental health support to discrimination and ineffective complaints systems.

Particular concern was raised about what happens when young people leave care and are expected to begin independent adult lives.

The committee heard that young people can experience a sudden “cliff edge” as they reach adulthood, when services and relationships they previously relied upon disappear or become more difficult to access.

While many young adults outside the care system continue to depend on their parents and wider families for practical, financial and emotional support well into adulthood, care leavers can be expected to manage housing, employment, education, finances and healthcare with significantly smaller support networks.

The JCHR said the challenges faced by people who have experienced care do not simply disappear when they reach a particular birthday and called on the government to consider moving away from rigid age-based cut-offs.

Instead, it wants ministers to examine whether support could be provided according to an individual young person’s circumstances and needs, allowing for a more gradual transition into independent adulthood.

The committee said better outcomes were needed across housing, healthcare, education and employment, while greater attention should also be paid to discrimination experienced by people who have spent time in care.

Evidence gathered during the inquiry also highlighted difficulties accessing mental health services. Participants described uncertainty about what support was available and problems continuing to access healthcare and education after reaching age thresholds including 18 and 25.

The committee raised further concerns about the relationship between care experience and the criminal justice system, warning that children in care and young people with care experience are disproportionately at risk of criminalisation.

Lord David Alton, who chaired the committee when the report was published, said society had a moral duty to uphold the human rights of children and young people and described the social care system as a crucial safety net for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

He said evidence from children in care, care leavers and experts suggested the system was too often failing to prevent people from falling through gaps, with the challenges continuing beyond childhood.

The report also identifies significant problems within the wider children’s social care system.

The committee agreed with the government’s assessment that the children’s social care market is “fundamentally broken”, highlighting shortages of suitable placements which can result in children being placed considerable distances from their families and siblings.

Some children have been placed in accommodation the committee described as illegal or in supported accommodation that does not adequately meet their needs.

It is calling for universal standards of care to apply across all settings in which children are placed, arguing that children’s rights should be protected regardless of the type of accommodation in which they are living.

Greater support for kinship carers is also recommended, with the committee saying keeping children within family networks should continue to be prioritised where it is safe and appropriate.

The report welcomes the government’s Kinship Allowance Pilot but warns that many families will remain without additional support while the scheme is tested and rolled out.

The experiences of disabled children and their families are another area of concern. The committee described the existing social care framework for disabled children as complicated and difficult to navigate and has backed calls for clearer statutory guidance and a single duty to assess children’s social care needs.

Serious concerns were also raised about what happens when children and families try to complain about the support they receive.

In a self-selecting survey carried out as part of the inquiry, only eight of 265 people who responded to a question about complaints said they had been able to raise concerns and have them adequately dealt with. The committee cautioned that its survey was not designed to be representative of everyone using children’s social care, but said the evidence helped illustrate the difficulties experienced by some families.

It has proposed a “no wrong door” approach to complaints, meaning that if somebody approaches the wrong organisation with a concern, they should either be directed promptly to the correct route or have their complaint transferred appropriately rather than being left to navigate the system themselves.

The JCHR is also calling for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to be fully incorporated into English law, which it says would provide a clearer framework for protecting children’s rights and strengthen accountability for public bodies responsible for their care.

At the heart of the report, however, is a recognition that the effects of being in care can continue long after somebody legally becomes an adult.

Leaving care can mean starting an independent life without many of the safety nets other young people take for granted, from having somewhere to return to when things go wrong to having somebody available to help with money, housing, work or simply the uncertainty that comes with becoming an adult.

The committee wants the social care system to recognise that reality and move towards support based more closely on what an individual young person needs, rather than assuming their need for help ends because they have reached a particular age.

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