Member

The MacAlister report stated that the current cliff edge that care leavers face puts them at a severe disadvantage when navigating adult life. It is widely acknowledged that young people experience better outcomes when they remain in family environments through foster care, adoptive care or kinship care in comparison to residential care. It is known that foster carers are often best placed to prepare the young people in their care for independence, because they are the most trusted adult known to the young people. Surely they should have the same support and opportunities to stay beyond 21 in the environment they feel most comfortable as those living in residential care.