Leaving care: Phil's story

Newsnight has been given the rare chance to meet a group of care leavers. In the first report we speak to Phil, who has been in care since he was 10 years old.

by Liz MacKean BBC Newsnight

The drizzle glimmers like crystals under the floodlights as a pack of teenagers chase after their football - shouting encouragement at team-mates.

There is rivalry every Tuesday night in Leicester, but these players belong to the same select group.

They are among 450 people living in care - away from their families and under the protection of Leicester City Council.

This is a group that statistics predict will do far less well in life compared to their peers. But this weekly gathering, taken so seriously, is one of the ways in which they're encouraged to work to overturn the odds.

I meet Phil, a cheerful 17-year-old who is training to be a sports instructor. By staying on in education he is improving his life chances.

Lucky ones

Nationally there are 60,000 children in care at any one time

Those who leave care and go on to university are a tiny proportion - just 6% in England and 1% in the rest of the UK.

"I'm one of the lucky ones," Phil tells me. "Not many people have got these opportunities like me. Most of them mess around and get in trouble with the police and stuff."

Again, the research does not point to a rosy future. A third of all those in young offender institutions were at some point in care. So were almost a quarter of those in adult prisons. A third of those living on the streets have also been through the care system.

Poor outcomes

Phil is making good progress at college and is planning to go to university

Nationally there are 60,000 children in care at any one time. Despite the failings revealed by the most high profile cases, collectively local authorities save many children from danger within the family.

But the poor outcomes for those who leave care have been called a national disgrace by one social charity.

Councils like Leicester are at the forefront of trying to improve the chances of those in their care.

The authority has been awarded beacon status by the government partly in recognition for the work it does with care leavers, those aged 16 or 17, who at 18 must live independently.

Outburst

Phil takes me to meet his foster parents. He's been living with them for the last 18 months, and expects to stay here until he turns 18.

But it soon becomes clear there are problems with the placement. Denny Lapworth and her husband Gary have fostered children for 10 years. For the first time ever, she was forced to call in the police.

"I actually had to have Phil arrested. Phil was very upset, and very very angry - I've never seen Phil as angry as that - and he assaulted my husband, he tipped a full can of paint all over my carpet upstairs. He then proceeded to come down here, pick a chair up and throw it on my glass coffee table and smash all my glass ornaments."

Phil himself can't explain his outburst. Since then there has been another incident and once again he is on the move to a different foster home.

Apart from this setback, things appear to be going well for Phil. He has had a good report from college and his progress was recognised at a special awards ceremony run by the council for its looked-after children.

But Phil's time in care is running out.

He left his family when he was 10, next year when he turns 18 his care order with the council expires. At this point he'll be expected to get his own home.

He'll get some support from a social worker, but, with no family to provide a safety net, financially he'll be on his own.

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