Councillor calls for care leavers’ fund

The youngest councillor in the country, a former resident of a
children’s care home, has called on private home providers to set
up a fund to help older care leavers.

Matthew Huggins, a Labour councillor at the London Borough of
Barking and Dagenham, said the corporate parent role that applied
to councils should be extended to include private companies.

He said the long-term effects of growing up in a care home were
felt throughout the life of a care leaver, yet many leavers
received no help because they were in care before the Children
(Leaving Care) Act 2000 came into force.

“When a residential home takes on a child they take on the
corporate parent role. That should not end at a certain date or
time of day,” Huggins said.