Care leavers who ‘experience discrimination’ when all they’re ‘looking for is love’ will now be better protected in their future thanks to a recent motion at Manchester City Council. Coun Paula Sadler requested that “young people in care” and “care experienced young people” should be an additional characteristic in all of our Equality Impact Assessments, Manchester Town Hall Extension heard.
Coun Sadler’s passionate speech at the full council meeting on October 5 earned rapturous applause as she fought for care leaver’s formal recognition and to make sure that all decisions that are made and policies that are set consider their specific needs and the impact on them. She, and all the councillors in the chamber, hope these proposals will ensure our young people have the tools to build a prosperous, healthy, and happy future.
“This will have a real tangible impact on people who have experienced care,” Coun Sadler said.
“We want to make it easier for young people to gain employment at the Council and to develop into senior roles – with guaranteed interview schemes, mentoring and support and reasonable adjustments made to support employees with care experience. We also want to see our procurement and commissioning of our services to consider the impact on young people with care experience, in the same way as other protected and additional characteristics are and make extra effort to ensure that they can access all of our services.”
For many in care, discrimination is a regular occurrence, a former care leaver stated. Terry Galloway, a former care leaver who lived in the care system across Greater Manchester and later Devon, now lives in Nottingham and campaigns hard for systemic change, and he wants more councils across Greater Manchester and the UK to adopt this legislation.
“Manchester is my hometown, but there is so much trauma associated with that place,” he said. “My family were really let down and in the very late eighties going by ambulance every week with my sister who was constantly trying to kill herself.
“We were abused in the care of Manchester Social Services, and they would never admit it. They just saw us as a dysfunctional family, everybody did, it can’t possibly be true.
“My sister was the ultimate victim, she took a lot of pain for us and became so vulnerable as she left care, she lost her children to the care system and later was killed by her boyfriend. Us care leavers are looking for love, relationships, friendships, and most of all family.
“That is what makes us so vulnerable and susceptible to predatory behaviours.”
The motion in Manchester is part of a national campaign by Terry Galloway to bring about change in the care system. He has been fighting to help care leavers get into jobs and make a better life for themselves - but believes they are being held back by invisible barriers.
“We don’t have time to wait for the government to respond and bring in legislation,” Terry said. “This is a pressing issue now. My family suffered tragically, it was tragic, but the tragedy is that it is still happening to thousands of children and families across the country.
“These councils have the power to make it happen now. I’m so proud of Manchester City Council for taking this step.
“And I’m calling on the other councils in the combined authority area to pass similar motions at their next full council meetings. I’m also calling on GM Mayor Andy Burnham to really show leadership in this area by formally adopting the corporate parenting principles and voluntarily adopting protected characteristics for care experience.
“This is not a wishy-washy motion.”
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
