by Emily, youth worker
As a youth worker in London, it is impossible to ignore the compounding crises within systems that are supposed to support and care for young people.
Schools are being siphoned off to private entities. Catering, cleaning, and teaching staff are outsourced to private agencies. This not only limits consistency of staff within schools, but takes a big chunk of school budgets.
Education is in crisis. Classrooms have upwards of 30 children, while the needs of children and young people are higher than ever.
It can take years to be assessed by mental health support services. In the meantime, mounting pressure leads to unmet needs.
When an educational facility can’t meet the needs of a pupil, typically one of two things happen. Either they are transferred to a tailored setting, such as special educational needs provision or, when the issues are related to behaviour, they are likely to be permanently excluded. Many of those excluded will be neurodiverse and undiagnosed.
‘Looked-after children’ refers to children in the legal care of the local authority. Of registered children’s care homes, 84% are privately owned, with just 16% within local authority control.
The number of children’s homes has doubled since 2011. But the number of foster carers has fallen by 10% in the last four years – a recruitment crisis. Is it any wonder that we’re seeing this huge decline, when one of the conditions of being a foster carer is having a spare bedroom, while the housing crisis is worsening?
It is so difficult to find pathways for children back into education once they have been excluded. Consequently, young people I have worked with find it almost impossible to find ways of earning legitimate income.
In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, children from the age of ten can be arrested, charged, and convicted of a crime. Roughly 50% of children in custody have experience of the UK care system.
When every service that is supposed to support young people has faced cuts, been shut down, or simply doesn’t exist, young people are left with fewer options than ever before. Those who work with young people, like me, are left with the remnants of services that are not fit for purpose.
We must continue to campaign and put pressure on councils to fully fund youth services, including bringing services like care homes back in-house. Let’s empower young people to fight for a socialist future. That is what Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates are standing for.