Towards the privileging of care-experienced children and young people’s educational and other ‘life chances’ within social work practice and education

Care-experienced children and young people frequently face adverse ‘life chances’ when compared to their peers. Their life-course trajectories typically include numerous personal, structural and culturally determined challenges set from a young age. Social workers in the UK now play a minimal role in direct support for young people and are instead encouraged to focus on short-term priorities, safeguarding investigations and monitoring ‘risky’ working-class parents. This article considers some explanations and evidence offered for educational and other inequalities experienced by care-experienced children and young people, and highlights specific issues regarding ongoing neoliberal reforms of social care. Case examples relating to criminal justice, asylum-seeking children and sexuality are then briefly discussed. The conclusion draws from evidence to identify some recommendations that may help improve care-experienced children and young people’s full learning potential. This includes moving away from the current neoliberal-inspired short-term focus placed on managing risk and towards the provision of more contextual and meaningful support.