Young people exiting care left to 'fall off a cliff' when they reach 18

According to Tusla, there are currently 2,999 young people and young adults in receipt of aftercare services. File picture

Young people leaving care are left to “fall off a cliff” when they reach 18 years of age because of a lack of accommodation and residential aftercare services, an advocacy body has said.

The Irish Aftercare Network has submitted a document to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in response to Tusla’s recently-published Strategic Plan for Aftercare Services for Young People and Young Adults 2023 -2026.

The submission calls for action on the prioritising of young people leaving State care in relation to housing. According to Tusla, there are currently 2,999 young people and young adults in receipt of aftercare services.

Neil Forsyth, communications manager of the Irish Aftercare Network, told the Irish Examiner: “For most young people in the general population they are at home with their parents at 18 years of age. 

"These young people do not have that safety net—they have to find somewhere to live and, at the moment, all the traditional avenues of housing, like the private rented sector and to a certain extent local authority housing, has completely shut down. There is nothing there for them.”

Mr Forsyth said while young people in care "get all the supports in the world until they are 18. Then they fall off a cliff at 18 and not having somewhere to go—a stable housing arrangement—is extremely stressful and causes them a great deal of worry on top of all the other things going on in their life. 

"There needs to be far better co-operation going on between local authorities, approved housing bodies and Tusla to ensure that there is an adequate supply of housing.” 

He said there are very few supported aftercare residential services around the country for people not ready to move from care into independent living.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

And he warned: “A lot of young people are leaving care and moving into very unstable situations—not just to family situations but sleeping on couches with friends. There has been a lot of talk about the crisis in the care system but there is a crisis in the aftercare system as well.”

A spokeswoman from Tusla said: “We regularly engage with departmental colleagues, local authorities and housing bodies to ensure that young adults with care experience are recognised as a vulnerable group and prioritised for access to services such as accommodation, multi-agency support, and access to specialist services, among others. 

"Tusla is acutely aware of and has been vocal in relation to the current challenges in after care services, including supporting young people preparing to leave care. Preparation for Leaving Care is included in Tusla National Policy for Aftercare which can be found on our website.” 

She said that stakeholder feedback will be considered in the development of the Aftercare Strategy Implementation Action Plan.

Department of Housing

Meanwhile, a Department of Housing spokesman said that the department issued a circular in 2017 “which provided that, where a local authority is informed by Tusla that there is a need for accommodation for people aged 18-21 (or up to 23 if in education/training) leaving State care and who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, it may invite Approved Housing Bodies to apply for Capital Assistance Scheme funding to provide appropriate accommodation.”

He added that a strategy published in 2022 relating to the increase in homelessness experienced by 18 to 24 year olds incorporated young people with care experience as one of six cohorts “who are particularly vulnerable to experiencing homelessness”.

He outlined that the strategy sets out specific actions to help each of these vulnerable cohorts.