FoI reveals early deaths among care leavers

According data collated from a freedom of information (FoI) submitted by the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum at Catch 22, young people who have grown up in care are more likely to die in early adulthood than other young people brought up under conventional circumstances.

The statistics, supplied by the Department for Health, showed that 90 people who left care in the UK between 2012 and 2016 died in the years when they would have turned 19, 20 or 21. It indicated that care leavers make up one per cent of the population between this age range and seven per cent of the deaths.

Alice Frank, manager of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum at Catch 22 commented: “Coroners will not be provided with the care status of a young person whose untimely death they are investigating.

"Those care leavers who die while out of contact with their councils will not be reported to those councils, and the young person's care status will not be recorded in their death certificate."

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "We are committed to improving the lives of care leavers and giving them the support they need as they make their way into adulthood.

"That's why we are investing nearly £10m over the next four years in improving mental health support for looked-after young people in secure children's homes, and are changing the law so local authorities have to promote the physical and mental health of children in care."

Councillor Richard Watts, chair of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said: "It is disappointing that this report treats care leavers as a homogenous group, taking no account of factors such as their individual life experiences, their age at coming into care or the amount of support that councils were able to provide.

"Research shows that the stability provided by carers can help children to achieve consistently better results at school when compared to children living with their families while receiving social work support, particularly when that care started early."