http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5363432.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 23:46 GMT 00:46 UK
Report attacks child care system
In total, 20% of children leaving care end up homeless
Three-quarters of children in care have no educational qualifications at all
when it ends, a report into the state of the care system claims.

Out of the 6,000 children who leave the care of the state each year, 60 make
it to university, says a report by think tank the Centre for Policy Studies.

Report author Harriet Sergeant said a failing system was a "major
contributor to social exclusion in this country".

The Department for Education said it had plans to help children in care.

A department spokeswoman said: "We are already working on a major
consultation document, to be launched shortly, on a wide range of proposals
to transform the outcomes of children in care."


It comes after Ms Sergeant warned: "A childhood of abuse followed by an
adolescence spent in care sets up young people for all the disadvantages
that define social exclusion: illiteracy, homelessness, drug and alcohol
dependency, prostitution and criminality.


Vast sums of money are being spent on a system that contains rather than
cares or protects


"A successful system of care would transform this country, empty a third of
our prisons and shift half of all prisoners under the age of 25 out of the
criminal justice system.

"It would halve the number of prostitutes and homeless, and remove 80% of
Big Issue sellers from our street corners."

She said the state was removing young people from their parents and making
itself responsible.

"It has complete control, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It should be a
unique opportunity to transform these children's lives.

"Instead vast sums of money are being spent on a system that contains rather
than cares or protects," she said.

Other findings in the report - entitled Handle with Care: an investigation
into the care system - included

# within two years of leaving care 3,000 of 6,000 young people will be
unemployed

# 2,100 will be mothers or pregnant

# 1,200 will be homeless

# nearly half of all young people leave care at 16 or 17

The report said children were moved "far too frequently" between carers,
that care homes focused on short-term containment rather than long-term
success, and there was not enough support for charges once they had left the
system.

It called for "secure, stable, long-term and loving care for difficult
children".

Among the children quoted in the study was one 14-year-old girl who had been
through 30 placements.

"You feel like a bit of rubbish yourself who no-one wants," she is quoted as
saying.

The DfES said its consultation document would "look at how we can close the
gap in the life chances and academic performance of looked after children
and improve their prospects significantly".

It added: "In advance of the consultation we have already taken a number of
steps, including regulating to ensure children in care are given top
priority in school admissions and giving local authorities the power to
direct a school to accept a looked-after child, even if the school says it
is full."


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