Everyone in Sutton can play their part in supporting children in care

This week is National Care Leavers Week, a time when we celebrate and focus on our Children in Care and our Care Leavers and their many achievements. At Sutton Council, we are committed to breaking down barriers for care leavers and ensuring they feel supported. 

This year I am delighted to say that 72% of our care leavers aged 18 progressed to further education, higher education, training or employment. We are extremely proud of our two care leavers who successfully graduated from university this year. We also continue to see many of our care leavers going on to find roles in new jobs, such as Natalie who recently completed her degree at university and started a new job in London.

We’re also proud to recognise Care Experience as a protected characteristic meaning that we must consider the impact our services have on children and young people who are in care or who have left care and to keep care-experienced young people at the heart of our decisions. Through our Leaving Care Team, work placements and council apprenticeships, we create equal opportunities for career development. We involve care-experienced young people directly in decision-making by including them on selection panels for council roles, and we provide more housing options to support their independence.

As Cllr James explains in this video, everyone in Sutton can play their part in supporting our children in care and our care leavers. This could be from considering fostering, offering a work experience placement or apprenticeship in your place of work, or thinking about how you or your organisation could support those in our community who have spent time in care. 

Everyone in Sutton can support our care leavers. Let’s work together to make Sutton an inclusive, supportive community for all.