Every child deserves a decent life
Care experienced children and young people across Wales have told us loud and clear: they want real change, and they want it now. Not promises for the future - actual improvements.
“What we are asking for is no more than any child has a right to - the right to lead a decent life, as part of a decent society.” D A Jones, CEO, Voices From Care Cymru
Introduction
From the CEO
D A Jones
Chief Executive, Voices From Care Cymru
Care experienced children and young people across Wales have told us loud and clear: they want real change, and they want it now. Not promises for the future - actual improvements to the services that are supposed to look after them.
The good news? What they're asking for isn't impossible. These are practical, achievable changes that the next Senedd (that's the Welsh Parliament) can deliver within its five-year term.
These ideas aren't new. Many of them were recommended 25 years ago in the Waterhouse Report. A quarter of a century later, too many of those recommendations still haven't been put into practice. Now is the time.
Young people keep telling us that getting access to good-quality, independent advocacy (someone who speaks up for you and is on your side) is still really hard. We need a system that doesn't just rely on individual children being brave enough to speak out - we need proper monitoring that catches problems and fixes them before they get worse.
Real, lasting change will only happen when care experienced children and young people are properly involved in designing the services that affect their lives. The Welsh Government's Radical Reform Summits, run by Voices From Care Cymru, are a great example of this - and they need to continue.
Every idea in this manifesto is a chance to make that involvement stronger. But making it happen takes commitment from both the government and wider society to keep the door open for young people's voices.
What we're asking for is simple: every child in care deserves the same chance at a decent life as any other child. You can help by supporting these priorities and making them yours.
The Evidence
Children in care in Wales
Our Priorities
Three calls for the next Senedd
These manifesto policies have been developed by care experienced children and young people from across Wales, supported by Voices From Care Cymru, and agreed by our Young Person's Advisory Group.
End the use of restraint
Stop routine restraint on children and young people. Promote trauma-informed de-escalation and ensure aftercare, reporting and judicial oversight.
Accountable health & wellbeing
Health Boards must have statutory duties to promote the health of care experienced young people, with named professionals and independent reviews.
Higher standards for independent living
Clear entitlements, no homelessness from leaving care, an essentials guarantee, and championing young people's social relationships.
End the use of restraint on children and young people
UNCRC Foundation: The government will take all measures to protect children from physical violence, injury, abuse or maltreatment (Article 19). No child shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and any child deprived of liberty will be treated with humanity and respect (Article 37).
Our View
There should be a rights-based approach to eliminating the routine use of restraint through promoting young people's safety and wellbeing. The rules about when and how restraint can be used should be updated to strictly limit its use in practice - including physical, mechanical and chemical restraint as well as practices like keeping young people in seclusion or isolation.
Without approval through a legal process, after the event if necessary, restraint should not be used on young people. Restraint should only be used in circumstances where there is an immediate risk of significant harm.
Young people should always have it explained to them why restraint is being used. There should be better recording, monitoring and reporting on the use of restraint so that the government and the public know what is happening across the whole of Wales.
Professionals supporting young people should avoid hypervigilance - where heightened risk-responses to behaviour typical of others their age can increase household tensions and undermine trust in supportive relationships.
The police should not be called to deal with minor rule-breaking involving care experienced young people that could just be dealt with within their household or with therapeutic support. Young people should not be criminalised or subject to invasions of their privacy when it is not necessary or justified.
What the next Welsh Government should do
Publish new statutory guidance, co-designed with young people, on what is necessary, proportionate and in a child's best interests. No policy of restraint should be included within a care plan without prior judicial authorisation establishing that no less restrictive alternative is possible.
Young people should have entitlement to an independent advocate, medical examination and independent review of the decision to use restraint up to 30 days following any incident. Introduce standardised documentation and national reporting requirements.
Require social services to prioritise de-escalation and harm reduction when responding to typical teenage behaviours. Develop new rapid response protocols with young people to eliminate police call-outs for non-criminal welfare incidents.
The criminalisation of care-experienced children
Research EvidenceYouth justice involvement
33% of care-experienced children born 1996–1999 received a youth justice caution or conviction between ages 10–17, compared to just 4% without care experience.
Criminalised while in care
41% of care-experienced children in Mid and West Wales became criminalised while in the care system itself.
Be accountable for children and young people's health and wellbeing
UNCRC Foundation: The government will uphold children's right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health (Article 24). The government commits to ensuring disabled children have support to achieve the fullest possible social integration and individual development (Article 23).
Our View
Care experienced young people should be supported more proactively to navigate the healthcare system. Things should never need to reach a crisis point before young people are able to receive a full assessment and treatment plan.
Stronger cooperation is needed between health and other agencies, and with young people. Young people should never be allowed to miss out on routine and preventative healthcare. A missed appointment might be the result of a lack of minor practical wellbeing support but can have major consequences for a young person's health.
Independent Reviewing Officers have an important role in ensuring that placements for young people are planned and supported properly. They should have the capacity, support inputs and powers necessary to drive real improvement across multiple agencies.
There should be more suitable homes for disabled young people in every part of Wales so they do not have to move far away to get the support they need. All carers should be supported to develop specialist skills so that there are more carers better equipped to support young people in trauma-informed ways.
What the next Welsh Government should do
Strengthen the statutory duty for health boards to "safeguard and promote" the health of care experienced children - not just "have regard." Require timely access to physical and mental health services, proactive assessments, and continuity of care across transitions.
Implement designated professionals with responsibility for care experienced children within each Health Board, including a named senior midwife for care experienced parents. Establish 'virtual' clinical teams to retain responsibility for young people who move areas.
Implement genuine independence for Independent Reviewing Officers with full separation from Local Authorities, separate funding and governance under a national service board including care-experienced members with voting rights.
Develop enhanced regional specialist placement strategies to reduce instances of children being placed outside of Wales or far from home. Invest in specialist carers and placements with clinical support, with young people contributing to strategy development.
The mental health and placement crisis
Research EvidencePlacement breakdown rates
Source: PMC Systematic Review 2024; ScienceDirect Meta-Analysis
Set higher standards for independent living
UNCRC Foundation: The government will uphold children's rights to the maximum extent of available resources (Article 4), ensure to the maximum extent possible the development of the child (Article 6), and ensure every child has a standard of living adequate for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development (Article 27).
Our View
Young people leaving care should have a clear and consistent range of support to develop independent living skills wherever in Wales they live. There should not be a 'cliff edge' effect - changes in support should be gradual, expected and well-organised.
Transition to independence should never just mean being signposted to welfare benefits - every young person should be encouraged to have ambition for themselves, to pursue their goals and to contribute to their community.
Young people should never be allowed to be made homeless as a result of leaving care. Young people should never be in a position where their income does not allow them to afford their essential costs and live with dignity.
The survival and development of a young person includes their social development - social needs are survival needs. Developing positive social networks and confidence protects young people from negative influences and exploitation. Care experienced young people's social connections should be acknowledged and nurtured.
No young person leaving care should be in a position where they do not have emergency contacts or where they are faced with having to move to a community where they do not know anyone.
What the next Welsh Government should do
Set higher national standards for independent living and leaving care support, co-designed with young people. Include proactive casework support with finding training, work placements and employment. Ban the use of wholly negative terms in official records and communications.
Strengthen the prohibition on Local Authorities allowing young people to become homeless when leaving care. Impose conditionality on central government funding. Designate named tenancy liaison officers to promote coordination and prevent gaps in support.
Create a guarantee for care leavers: where essential outgoings exceed financial resources for four weeks or more, the government will meet the shortfall. Publish auditable schedules defining essential costs including housing, utilities, food, transport, personal care and education.
Publish statutory guidance to protect social activities within care planning. Restrict requirements for permission to take part in peer activities. Coordinate volunteer 'Connection Coaches' at Local Authority level. Mandate annual direct contact between senior managers and young people.
The gap: care leavers vs general population
Research EvidenceDoubled in a single year
Sources: DfE 2025; Welsh Government 2024; NICE NG205
The cliff edge of leaving care
Care leavers are expected to be independent years before their peers - with devastating consequences.
Sources: DfE 2025; Welsh Government 2024; NICE NG205
Take Action
Make these your priorities too
Every political party should commit to these three changes before May 2026. Share our demands with your Senedd candidates.