What does “care experience” mean?

Care experience describes anyone who has spent time in the care system: whether that’s foster care, residential care, kinship care, or being looked after at home under a supervision order. It includes people currently in care and adults who were in care as children, often referred to as ‘care leavers’.

A ‘care leaver’ specifically means someone who was looked after on or beyond their 16th birthday and is currently under 26. Care leavers are entitled to specific legal protections and aftercare support, but young people who are “on the edges of care,” with similar experiences but who don’t formally meet these definitions, often don’t receive the same protections, despite facing many of the same risks.

Find out more via Who Cares? Scotland’s website.

Why care leavers are at greater risk of homelessness

Care-experienced young people face a transition to independence that most young people don’t have to navigate alone, and often at a younger age. Without the safety net of family to fall back on, the margin for things to go wrong is much smaller. They are less likely to have a tenancy history, and less likely to have an adult to act as a ‘guarantor’ for any tenancy agreement.

Like other young people who experience homelessness, care-experienced young people often carry experience of trauma and adversity. How that trauma is responded to during the transition out of care has a significant impact on their housing stability and wellbeing into adulthood. Strong, consistent relationships with trusted adults such as youth workers, mentors and foster carers, are one of the most powerful protective factors a young person can have, which is why Rock Trust builds relationship-based support into everything we do.

How Rock Trust supports care leavers

Care leavers and young people leaving care are explicitly included in the eligibility for several of Rock Trust’s services. Bedrock, our supported accommodation service in Edinburgh, supports young people aged 16 to 25 who are leaving care or assessed as homeless, giving them a genuine home of their own alongside one-to-one support from a dedicated Project Worker.

Beyond individual services, we work to ensure care leavers aren’t left to navigate the system alone, supporting them to understand their rights, access the aftercare entitlements they’re due, and build a pathway towards a sustainable, independent future on their own terms.

What we’re calling for

Rock Trust’s manifesto sets out clear asks for the Scottish Government to deliver on The Promise for care leavers:

• A genuine transition plan for every care-experienced young person leaving care – with guaranteed housing options and a dedicated aftercare support worker available until at least age 26.
• Housing options that are properly supported and suited to individual needs – not a one-size-fits-all approach to a deeply individual transition.
• Full implementation of the care leavers pathway recommendations – backing the ongoing work of the Care Leavers Sub Group to deliver consistently better outcomes across Scotland.

These policy asks reflect what we see directly through our work with care leavers: that good intentions only translate into better outcomes when they’re backed by guaranteed housing, sustained support, and consistent delivery across every local authority; not just the ones with the resources to get it right.