{"id":3899,"date":"2024-06-26T11:58:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T10:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality-2\/?page_id=3899"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:32:12","slug":"care-experienced","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/guidance\/diversity\/care-experienced","title":{"rendered":"Diversity Guide – Care Experienced People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 Devon County Council treats ‘care-experience’ as a protected characteristic. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide has been developed with the help of the Stand Up Speak Up Council<\/a> – a youth council for Care Experienced People (CEP). They say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

As members of the Stand up Speak up Council (care-experienced youth council), we hope that having care-experience as a protected characteristic results in better understanding of our situation and that we will be treated as individuals with a particular type of life-experience rather than a data-set of negative statistics and stereotypes. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Definintion of care-experienced<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A care-experienced person is someone of any age who has spent any of their childhood in the care of the Local Authority. This includes foster care and children\u2019s care homes etc. The term also covers young asylum seekers who arrive in the UK without an adult with parental responsibility (also known as Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children or UASC, for short), and young people who have spent significant time in hospital or short breaks type accommodation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact of care-experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being care-experienced can indicate a level of vulnerability, often due to trauma, and a disrupted journey through childhood. Although care-experienced people may share some characteristics, first and foremost they are individuals, so it is better to ask care-experienced people what they need rather than make assumptions<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many care-experienced individuals share common life experiences and seek positive impacts and understanding. The following points are presented in the voice of our Stand Up Speak Up Council. Many points can apply in other circumstances not listed, or apply to another area already listed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School\/college<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although we don\u2019t necessarily want everyone to know we are or have been in care, it is helpful if staff make the effort to be trauma-informed and consider our needs and what we are going through. But also, to understand that we just want to get on with our lives the best we can, and don\u2019t need to keep being reminded we are in care. Sometimes we can feel like we have been labelled as \u2018bad kids\u2019 because we are in care, as there are a lot of negative stereotypes attached to being care-experienced. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s important to challenge assumptions and explain in a more general way to the school population that children are placed in care through no fault of their own and for many different reasons that are usually painful to talk about. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Application or consent forms<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Address history:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understand that many of us have needed to move a lot \u2013 it is not something we have enjoyed or wanted to do. It is not something we want to talk about to every prospective education facility, employer or landlord. <\/span>However, many application forms ask you for a list of all the addresses you have lived in for the last five years. <\/span>Some of us don\u2019t even know all the addresses. Sometimes having a lot of addresses makes it look like you have done something wrong, but that isn\u2019t usually the case for people who experience housing insecurity. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be good if eve<\/span>rywhere understood this and didn\u2019t press us to provide that list. It makes it really difficult when applying for jobs, credit or housing. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency contact details: <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many forms ask us for an emergency contact number. Most of us can provide the number of someone, but please don\u2019t question who that person is; they might be our Personal Advisor or social worker, they might be a friend. It is unlikely they will be a family member. We can find this quite hard to talk about when everyone else puts their mum!<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Housing is a basic need that allows us to succeed. <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of us don\u2019t have family to return home to when we leave care at 18, or are facing a housing crisis in adulthood. Unlike many of our peers, we leave the place we have called home at a much earlier age. People who are not care-experienced will often stay at home with family until they feel ready and can afford to move into independent accommodation. We would therefore ask that a favoured approach is taken towards us in terms of our housing needs.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some of us have missed a lot of education through no fault of our own \u2013 some recognition of that, when we are applying for jobs, would be great. For example, some employers have started offering a guaranteed interview to care-experienced people as long they meet the essential criteria, alongside valuing skills and knowledge over experience and education. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as helping us to get us through the door into work, it will also be good for workplaces to recognise some of our needs and triggers. For example, most of us would benefit from clear and consistent communication and timescales being adhered to. When you\u2019ve had a lot of upheaval in your life, it is really important to know what is coming next, to know that people will do what they say they\u2019re going to do, and that things will happen at the time stated. Delays can make us very anxious and might result in us walking away from what would otherwise be a great opportunity.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would find it helpful if there was a discreet way that we can inform prospective employers that we are care-experienced – with assurance that we will be supported and not stigmatised if we do so. We want understanding but not pity or being made to feel different.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our health concerns are sometimes left untreated for a long time for a number of reasons, so when we do reach out it is likely that we really do need that support as soon as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may have very few people who can look after us if we get unwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitals and proced<\/span>ures can trigger trauma for many care-experienced people. It is helpful if staff are trained to a high level in being trauma-informed and in their understanding of what it means to have been in care, how we feel, and the importance of the language that is being used. This will result in us being able to access better care and support.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, bear in mind that when asking about family medical history, this can be difficult to answer for care experienced people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency Services<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As with health professionals, we would find it helpful if the emergency service personnel, especially the Police, work in a trauma-informed way.  Just <\/span>seeing<\/span><\/i> any of the emergency services can be massively triggering (for example, cause flashbacks) for care-experienced people, depending on the circumstances of their life before care. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police officers need to be aware of that and consider how they work with people who have been through care and trauma. <\/span>Our responses to situations are sometimes permanently locked in \u2018fight or flight\u2019 \u2013 the way you respond to us and support us in those times could make such a difference to the rest of our lives.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checklist to advance equality for care-experienced people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The following checklist can be used as part of an equality impact assessment, or in any situation involving, or potentially involving, care-experienced people:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Is there a discreet, confidential and \u2018safe\u2019 way someone can tell you that they are care-experienced?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Don\u2019t tell everyone we are care-experienced, this information is personal to us to share with who we choose.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Have staff been trained to be trauma-informed?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Have staff been trained to understand what care-experience means?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Consider intersectionality (this considers other characteristics such as ethnicity, disability, gender and other socio-economic factors in addition to being care-experienced). Have staff been trained in intersectionality?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • If someone has disclosed that they are care-experienced, what are you going to do differently and how are you going to communicate that to the person in question?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Be sensitive when asking for address or family medical history or emergency contact numbers.<\/span> Ethnicity (which is based upon family heritage) can also sometimes be difficult to answer.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • If you are an employer or college, consider the impact of care on education and how this can be mitigated to support access.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Are you aware of the person\u2019s housing situation? This can have a big impact on the rest of life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Consider your use of language when referring to the person \u2013 just because they say they are care-experienced, they are still individual. <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Have a conversation to understand people fully.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Communicate next steps clearly and try to be transparent and realistic on timescales so that you don\u2019t need to change plans at the last minute.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Talk to the person about their triggers if appropriate – consider your uniform or any power imbalance and the spaces that the person will need to access.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Demonstrate awareness and support, not pity. Empower us, don\u2019t just do things for us.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

     <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     Devon County Council treats ‘care-experience’ as a protected characteristic.  This guide has been developed with the help of the Stand Up Speak Up Council – a youth council for Care Experienced People (CEP). They say: As members of the Stand up Speak up Council (care-experienced youth council), we hope that having care-experience as a protected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":0,"parent":1354,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-3899","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 11:18:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3899"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4235,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3899\/revisions\/4235"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/equality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}