71% of care leavers do better in WHSCT

Amongst the findings of the ‘Northern Ireland Care Leavers Aged 19 Statistical Bulletin 2009/10’ was that nearly three quarters of care leavers had high attainment levels - a greater percentage than in other Trust areas.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has just published the fifth report of a series, relating to care leavers who reached their 19th birthday during the year ending 31 March 2010.

It reveals that care leavers aged 19 from the Western (71 per cent) and Southern (64 per cent) Trusts had higher proportions in education, training and employment, compared with the Northern (57 per cent), South Eastern (56 per cent), and Belfast (52 per cent) Trusts.

Other key findings indicate care leavers at 19 continue to have higher proportions of young people coping with disability (19 per cent) compared with the general population (6 per cent); a third (33 per cent) of females became mothers on or before their 19th birthday, seven percentage points higher than the previous year 2008/09, and over five times that to teenage mothers in the general population (6 per cent).

During 2009/10, Health and Social Care Trusts remained in contact with 98 per cent of care leavers at 19, an increase of nine percentage points since 2005/06 (89 per cent).