Teen kicked out of foster house despatched determined message to social employee – ‘you deserted me’
A young man has said he was “abandoned” by social services and was left to live in a hostel filled with drug dealers and violence.
Duncan Langley, now 25, said people tried to kick down his door and that he nearly went blind after a large beer bottle was thrown at his face, leaving him needing stitches just below his eye. But even though he wanted to leave, Duncan said: “I didn’t have a choice. I was basically either there or I’d be homeless.”
Young people who have been in care are nine times more likely to face homelessness than other young people, grim research shows today. Children’s charity Become said thousands of teens face a “care cliff” when they turn 18 and important support is cut off.
Speaking to the Mirror, Duncan said he was forced to leave his foster family of seven years a few days after his 18th birthday. “I got back home from college to find out that my stuff was already packed and I basically had to get out of that place there and then,” he said.
He said his carers pleaded with the social workers for him to stay, telling them that he was “happy here”. Duncan added: “I was completely devastated. I completely broke down. I wasn’t told where I was going to go next until really that day.”
Social services told him he could try to apply to the council for other accommodation. But Duncan had no idea how to do that – and was already suddenly left trying to pay bills at the hostel and figure out the tax system to claim Universal Credit.
He said: “I was lumped to do everything myself. I told them at the time that I wasn’t ready… and their answer was: ‘You have no choice. You’re an adult, deal with it.’ Well how can you deal with it? You don’t know how to pay a bill for example, you don’t know how to manage money. Those are those sorts of things a parent would teach you. The carers did everything they could for me in the time we had but even then it wasn’t enough time.”
He blames social services for bringing him into the care system but then leaving him alone. “I messaged my social worker a few years ago and asked: ‘Can you help me get my own place?’ And her reason was: ‘You’re an adult now. You’re 18 now. It’s down to you. And I’m like you put me in this situation that I didn’t want to be in and all of a sudden you abandoned me.”
He added: “I still find it difficult to this day in trusting people because of how I was brought up by social (services). It’s upsetting to not know whether you can trust people. Are people going to hurt you for no reason at all?”
Many care leavers told Become devastating stories about being left isolated and alone when their care support abruptly stopped when they turned 18. They spoke about not only having trouble accessing suitable accommodation but also in trying to manage bills or applying for benefits, sometimes in the middle of exams, without any adult guidance.
Almost 3.8 million families in England and Wales include adult children living with their parents according to the 2021 census – a rise by 13.6% compared to 2011. Just over half of 20- to 24-year-olds and a quarter of 25- to 29-year-olds live with their parents. Unaffordable housing and the cost of living have both been blamed for people living home at a later age.
Latest government statistics show a 54% increase in the number of young care leavers facing homelessness in the last five years. Research shows that almost two-thirds of 19-year-olds were not living with their foster carers in 2023, despite being eligible to stay with them until the age of 21 through the Government’s ‘Staying Put’ scheme.
Become is calling for homeless legislation to be amended to ensure care leavers can bid for social housing in the area they were moved to when in care or move to an area where they have connections and support. It is also calling for support schemes for young people in care to be fully funded, opt-out legal entitlements up to the age of 25.
Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of Become, said: “It’s appalling that thousands of care leavers are forced to leave their home at the age of 18, sometimes younger, without the family support that many of us take for granted. No young person leaving care should have to live in unsafe accommodation or be left homeless – but that is the reality for many right now, compounding the trauma they’ve experienced in the past.
“But this can be fixed. The Government must end the care cliff, prioritise social housing for young people leaving care and make sure they have the support they need every step of the way to make a positive start to adulthood.”
