Show you care
Thousands of teenagers in care currently live in bedsits, shared accommodation with adults, caravans, barges and B&Bs.
This National Care Leavers' Week, please help us make a difference for older children in care.
More than 7,000 teenagers in care in England live in accommodation without day-to-day care, and the number is rising each year.
Loving families don't stop providing care to children from the age of 16, and neither should the care system. What happens in our teenage years can affect us for the rest of our lives - both good and bad.
Write to your MP
Using our easy form, please send a letter to your MP to ask them to advocate for a care system where all children receive care where they live, including teenagers.
Why do we need your help?
Our two-tier care system
In 2021, the government banned the use of care-less accommodation for children in care under the age of 16. Teenagers aged 16 and 17 were left out of this new protection. This is despite them legally being children.
In wider society most adults in their 20s still live at home. Thousands of us petitioned 10 Downing Street to ensure all children in care receive care where they live. We were ignored.
The government claims that new regulations will push up standards for 'supported accommodation' for 16 and 17 year-olds in care, but they lack any duty to provide care. Why?
The stakes could not be higher
Most teenagers in care have experienced trauma within their family home, yet they continue to be badly let down by the system that is supposed to protect them from harm.
- Almost 4 in 10 16 and 17 year-olds in care live in accommodation where they receive no care.
- Nearly 1 in 10 of these children is disabled.
- In the last six years alone, more than 30 teenagers in care have died in care-less accommodation.
- Our research shows that more than 3,200 teenagers are not receiving education, employment or training while living in care-less accommodation.
Campaign FAQs
Who are the Together Trust?
We are the Together Trust. We’re a charity that’s been championing the rights, needs and ambitions of looked-after children, people with disabilities, autism and mental health difficulties across the North West for over 150 years. Learn more about what we do: www.togethertrust.org.uk
What is National Care Leavers Week?
National Care Leavers Week – which this year runs from 25 October until 2 November - gives young care leavers the opportunity to challenge the perceptions given to them and raise awareness of the issues those in care face, whilst also celebrating the incredible things many go on to achieve.
For this year’s theme, everyone will be called upon to CARE:
- Celebrate care leavers;
- Amplify their voices;
- Raise awareness of challenges, and;
- Encourage change in policy and practice.
What is the Keep Caring to 18 campaign?
Since February 2021, we have been a member of the Keep Caring to 18 steering group.
We believe that every child in care should be guaranteed care up to the age of 18 but government legislation leaves thousands of children without care every year.
16 and 17-year-olds are legally allowed to be placed in accommodation without care – also known as ‘unregulated accommodation’, which includes bedsits, flats, and shared housing.
This means thousands of vulnerable young people, still at school, are living in unsupported and potentially dangerous situations.
These types of accommodation have been banned for young people up to age 15, but 16- and 17-year-olds have been forgotten. This urgently needs changing.
You can read more about the campaign here.
What is ‘unregulated’ / ‘semi-independent’ / ‘uncaring’ accommodation?
In unregulated accommodation, children are legally only able to receive 'support' and not 'care' as they would in foster care or a residential children's home. This has been banned by the government, starting from October 2023.
Semi-independent accommodation is, instead, what the government has proposed for 16-and-17-year-olds (what we refer to as ‘careless accommodation’.
The nature of semi-independent accommodation and inspection framework make it infeasible for Ofsted to ensure that children are adequately protected while living in semi-independent accommodation.
The prevailing rationale for semi-independent accommodation is that some children are ‘ready for independence’ at a young age. Yet we know that there are children living in semi-independent accommodation who should be living in foster care or children’s residential care. Instead, they are living in a bedsit because it’s the only available placement in their area.
You can read more about our concerns around the proposed legislation here.
How can I help the campaign?
You can become a champion for our Keep Caring to 18 campaign; standing up for children in care and care leavers:
- Using our easy form, you can send a letter to your local MP and ask them to advocate for a care system where all children are cared for, including teenagers.
- Share the campaign with your networks.
- Sign up to our campaign emails to keep up with our work updates on children in care and care leavers.