Writing for the Daily Record, NicolaSturgeon explains why she is so committed to ensuring The Promise is delivered in full for young people with care experience
I am often asked what I cherished most from my time as First Minister, and it never takes me long to come up with the answer – it’s the thousands of conversations I was privileged to have with people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
These conversations are the hardest I’ve ever had. I already knew the statistics – that care experienced young people are more likely to be excluded from school, less likely to go to university, more likely to suffer mental health issues and experience homelessness, and more likely to die young than those who hadn’t spent time in care.
I heard young people blame themselves for being in care, and about their worry for the parents they had been taken away from. I heard about how bewildered the bureaucratic language used to describe their lives made them feel, and how scared they were at Children’s Panel hearings.It is important to say that not everything these young people told me was bad – I heard from some who had been very well supported by dedicated members of staff in children’s homes and exceptional foster carers.
We – government, society – too often let our most vulnerable children down at the time they need us most. And the understanding I got from these young people instilled in me a determination to help make it better.
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