News

Our regular panel comments on a topic in the news.

The transition to adulthood is fraught with difficulties for most teenagers as they acquire a greater degree of independence. The government hopes to smooth the transition with a child trust fund, announced last year and scheduled to appear before the next election. The initiative would provide all newborn babies with an account and a "baby bond" into which their families would save money until the child had access to it at the age of 18. While the benefits of the scheme are plain, children in the care system who have limited, if any, parental contact may be excluded from them, in spite of the fact that the hurdles they have to cross into adulthood are often higher than those for other children. The Institute for Public Policy Research suggests, in a new discussion paper, that the government should consider extending the trust fund concept to care leavers. Allowing children in care to accumulate a trust fund would, the IPPR argues, enable them to cope more effectively with this difficult transitional phase and make them feel more valued as citizens.

Karen Warwick, senior practitioner, Barnardo's
"Children in care do suffer multiple discrimination because of their position. A trust fund managed by corporate parents may go some way to assisting a young person in feeling that they are a stakeholder in society. My thoughts, though, are with the many invisible children who are living below the poverty line with their birth families."

Martin Green, chief executive, Counsel and Care for the Elderly
"I think the idea of trust funds for care leavers is an interesting one that is worth further exploration. We need to think laterally about the issue of how to fund care and support needs in the long-term care sector for older people as well. There is a serious need for these sorts of ideas to be explored and developed."

Phil Frampton, national chairperson, Care Leavers Association
"As corporate parents of children in care, the government should be putting money into a fund for each child in care. But this will be tokenism unless measures are taken to ensure that young care leavers are given decent, safe, affordable housing, full financial support for training, and educational opportunities. Mentoring of care leavers is also necessary because leaving care is about how to spend what little money you have, paying bills and making your way in a society that discriminates against care leavers."

Felicity Collier, chief executive, BAAF Adoption and Fostering
"Ninety per cent of children in care are from the poorest 10 per cent in our society. Poverty and cumulative disadvantage will have had a major influence on why they ended up in the care system in the first place. If the state is to take seriously its responsibility as a corporate parent it must ensure that the duties and responsibilities under the Children(Leaving Care) Act 2000 are properly implemented and resourced. Each young person leaving care at 18 must now have a pathway plan that sets out how their physical, emotional, educational, health and housing needs will be met. This demands a far more comprehensive approach to this critical area of policy for one of the most vulnerable groups in society."

Bill Badham, programme manager, Children's Society
"This is just another example of the sticking plaster state. Jay, who has experience of leaving care, told me this fund won't tackle poverty caused by £42 a week benefits and a £2,000 grant to set up on your own. Anyway, who's going to fund the fund? If the government wants to get serious and stop stigmatising, then it knows what to do, including reintroducing benefits for 16 and 17-year-olds and single payments for essential items."