ARU Final Report

Full Report – March 2021 43 5. Recommendations and conclusions The findings across our overarching themes of practical challenges and support, mental health and wellbeing, connection and loneliness, and support from services, provide some insight into care leavers’ experiences of support during the pandemic. In particular, the findings highlight some of the immense challenges that some care leavers face, which have been perpetuated by Covid-19 and the associated restrictions. While there are examples of good practice where care leavers have received effective support that has been hugely appreciated, there are also examples of care leavers being let down by services, receiving inadequate support, or not receiving support at all despite reaching out for it. By situating these findings in relation to the recent literature on the impact of the pandemic on young people, it is clear that there is a similar picture across the UK. The aim of this research was to learn from what is working and what needs to be improved in order to better support care leavers during the pandemic and beyond. Accordingly, we draw from the findings presented so far and use suggestions made by the care leavers themselvesacross thequestionnaireand focusgroups tomakeanumberof recommendations. These recommendations are presented in relation to the Care Leavers Charter (Department for Education, 2012), which outlines a set of principles and promises that care leavers urge central government and local authorities to use when making decisions about young people’s lives. The recommendations focus particularly on four of the principles: to inform you, to support you, to respect and honour your identity, and to listen to you. They also align with the Corporate Parenting Principles (Department for Education, 2018) that local authorities must take into account when working with care leavers. The report finishes with a call to action and conclusions. 5.1 To inform you The first principle is about ensuring care leavers are informed at every point in their journey, and know where to get current information from: “We will give you information that you need at every point in your journey, from care to adulthood, presented in a way that you want including information on legal entitlements and the service you can expect to receive from us at different stages in the journey… We will ensure you know where to get current information once you are no longer in regular touch with leaving care services.” Our findings show that information has been a pertinent issue during the pandemic and some care leavers needed more information both about the pandemic and what is happening, including what they can and cannot do within the restrictions, as well as about the support that is available to them: