Chelsea's vision for a better care system
The care system is vital for many children and young people across England who need extra support. More than 100,000 are currently living in care in the UK. However, sometimes the system lets them down or falls short. That is why services and professionals must listen to young voices and make the changes they are calling for. In our new film, Chelsea shares with us her vision for the care system.
Watch the film
A network of support
A network of support
The care system is crucial in the UK because it provides essential support and protection to young people that face problems at home. It could be that they are neglected, abused or their parents are too sick to look after them.
Following the cost-of-living crisis and a decade of cuts in funding these children’s services are struggling under the weight of demand. But every year, the number of young people entering care continues to rise.
Too many children are being placed far from home, in settings that don’t meet their needs. Too many children are expected to leave care before they feel ready.
Too many children feel like they don’t have a say.
Hear them out
‘Chelsea: My vision for a better care system’, is an insightful short film, looking at how the care system needs to be transformed and better listen to young people.
Chelsea is a young person in care. Through her experience she has a vision of a future care system. Services that work for young people, professionals that listen to them, that work together with them. A future where young people have the support they need to leave care happy and hopeful.
The Children’s Society has helped myself and other young people get our voices across and get our messages out there.
Chelsea knows what it’s like to not feel heard, to feel powerless in the decisions affecting her life, and to feel let down by the way the system worked. The impact this had on her was huge. Life felt dark. But Chelsea learned to box, as she loved the feeling of control it brought her.
She knows that too often it can feel as though young people in the care system have had their agency taken away. That they have little power over their own lives or their own relationships. To professionals responsible for their care, these are day-to-day decisions. But for young people, this is their lives.
I hope that this film will achieve getting a message to young people to support each other and that they are not alone.
video
A brighter tomorrow
Young people in care have the right to feel safe and secure, to know that their voices are heard and that they have a say in the decisions affecting them.
For Chelsea, who understands the power of her voice, it’s important that services and professionals listen and respond to young people on anything affecting their lives.
When we truly hear young people, we'll create the care system they need. And together we can improve the lives of a whole generation.
Learn more about the social care system.
Author: Edward Herbert
