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The government should consider introducing trust funds for care leavers, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research, writes Lauren Revans.

The influential left-of-centre think tank argues that allowing care leavers to accumulate an asset would enable them to cope better with the difficult transitional stage to adulthood and make them feel more valued as citizens, as well as offering them additional financial support.

The paper says there are dangers that children who have spent time in care will not benefit as much as other children from the proposed child trust fund initiative, announced by the government in April 2001, which is due to be implemented before the next general election.

Under the initiative, all new-born babies will be provided with an account and a 'baby-bond'. Children and their families will then save into the account, and the fund will accumulate until the child has access to the money at 18.

But the IPPR believes that limited parental contact and reduced on-going involvement in the account means children in care will end up with a smaller asset when they turn 18.