National Care Leavers’ Awareness Week 2020
Post date
26 October – 1 November is National Care Leavers’ Awareness Week 2020. We want to take this opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges for looked-after children and young people who are leaving care, and to show what we are doing to support care leavers.
Written by the Feeling Our Way Project team
Being a young person can be hard. Being a young person in care is even harder. In the UK, there are currently around 99,000 children and young people who are looked after by a local authority, with an estimated 40,000 children and young people entering the care system this year – that’s 109 young people every day!1 2 3 4
In partnership with Nottingham City Council, the Mental Health Foundation is delivering a project called ‘Feeling Our Way’ for care leavers in Nottingham City, to support them during this time of uncertainty with COVID-19. The project aims to reduce isolation and increase social connectedness, and to support care leavers’ in developing adaptive coping strategies.
Find out more about our programmes, 'Feeling Our Way' and 'MyLife, MyFuture'
- Department for Education. (2019). Children looked after in England (including adoption). Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019
- Scottish Government. (2019). Children’s Social Work Statistics Scotland. Available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/republication-childrens-social-work-statistics-scotland-2018-19/
- Department of Health. (2019). Children’s Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland. Available here: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/childrens-social-care-statistics-northern-ireland-201819
- Welsh Government. (2019). Children looked after by Local Authorities Wales. Available here: https://gov.wales/children-looked-after-local-authorities-april-2018-march-2019
- Department of Health and Social Care. (2012). Preventing Suicide in England: a cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/suicide-prevention-strategy-for-england
- National Audit Office. (2015). Care Leavers’ Transition to Adulthood. Available here: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/care-leavers-transitions-to-adulthood/