Raise the leaving age to support vulnerable children in care

The Children's Minister Edward Timpson has said that too many teenagers in England leave care without enough support, ending up in a "trap of poverty and joblessness".

Responding to these comments, Action for Children's Director of Children's Services Carol Iddon called for more support, saying:

"Over the years we have consistently called for the care leaving age to be raised to 25 - especially when young people no longer leave home for independent living at 16 or 18.

"We know that raising the care leaving age will have significant implications on resources, yet failing young people at this crucial stage is their lives is likely to have far greater consequences in the long term."

29-year old Fraser - who now volunteers with our Two of a Kind mentoring initiative - was in foster care for most of his teenage years. When he left the care system at 18, he struggled to cope on his own.

Fraser commented, "Everyone's got a family, but care leavers often don't and sometimes it can feel alienating. All I thought about was survival: how to get a job, how to pay the rent and support myself. There's hardly any support for care leavers and few services to help you transition into adulthood."