91 young people in our care system took their own lives in 2025.
Not statistics. Not numbers. Children.
One should be enough to force change. Ninety-one is a national failure.
These are young people the system was meant to protect—yet too many are left without stability, without consistent support, without hope. When care ends, the struggle doesn’t. For some, that’s when it gets even harder.
This is why I will not stop campaigning for care experience to be recognised as a protected characteristic.
I attended the funeral of a young care leaver who took his own life. I didn’t know him personally, but I was asked to attend and I went out of respect.
What struck me most was the absence of anyone from the local authority. When tragedies like this happen, there should be a duty for someone in power to be there—to acknowledge the life lost, to show respect, and to recognise responsibility.
I don’t believe we need yet another review costing who knows how much, only for nothing meaningful to change afterwards. We already know there are serious failures. What’s missing is action.
Care experience should be recognised as a protected characteristic. @NickMartinSKY@TerryGalloway@JoshMacAlister
This is a bedsit for young people transitioning out of care at 18. What you can’t see—or hear—is the pounding music from other rooms, the adults drinking and taking drugs, the constant stream of strangers drifting in and out.
Fear doesn’t even begin to cover it.
I was 16 when I left care, and this was my reality too. Twenty-eight years on, nothing has changed. The same chaos. The same danger. The same silence from the people who are meant to protect these young lives.
And now even more young people are taking their own lives because the system still refuses to support them. The government could change this overnight. They just choose not to. @SkyNews@NickMartinSKY@LBC@educationgovuk
Nonita’s death was preventable. She was failed by the state—abandoned at the moment she needed it most. It pains me deeply that, as part of the Independent Care Review for children’s social care, I made a promise to fight for every young person in care whose voice has been ignored. Yet today, our government continues to treat children in care as second-class citizens. And unless the law changes, more young people will continue to die prematurely in 2026 and beyond. This is not just a policy failure—it is a moral failure, and it must end.
https://t.co/hH0iEngRAR
In just one year, 91 young people leaving care died by suicide. Ninety-one lives lost—sons, daughters, siblings, friends. And these are only the ones we know about.
We are calling for urgent cross-party support for an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing Bill—one that would strengthen corporate parenting by changing the duty from simply “being alert�� to “having due regard.” This is not a technical adjustment. It is a life-saving one.
This government has the ability, and the responsibility, to stop this tragedy from continuing. Strengthening this duty could save lives. We cannot afford to look away.
@JoshBabarinde @TheGreenParty @Conservatives @LibDems @SkyNews @ChrisLawSNP @annelongfield @JoshMacAlister @SkyNews @NickMartinSKY @darrenpaffey @LBC
This is personal.
Since the Independent Care Review of Children’s Social Care was published in 2022, I’ve been fighting relentlessly to change the system for good—alongside Terry Galloway, who is leading the campaign to make care experience a protected characteristic.
Everywhere I go, I meet young people who’ve faced discrimination simply because they grew up in care. Their stories are heartbreaking. Their courage is inspiring. And they’re the reason I won’t stop.
This isn’t just policy anymore—it’s political.
The government has its reasons for refusing to amend the Equality Act.
I have mine.
I’ve seen too many young people suffer. I’ve buried too many friends from this community. Extending corporate parenting without legal protection isn’t enough. Words like “be alert” don’t save lives. “Having due regard” does. For vulnerable children, this really is the difference between life and death.
I’ll tell you what I hear, at every event, every conference, every room I walk into—young people and professionals say the same thing. This protection is needed. Now.
Change doesn’t come from intention. It comes from action.
@darrenpaffey@annelongfield@JoshBabarinde@JakeBenRichards@ChrisLawSNP@JoshMacAlister@bphillipsonMP
@kxqyfpmhtw@ccwild79 It is cruel, but what’s offered to whatever age needs to be good, needs to meet the needs of those young people. Support could be provided until they were 45, but if it’s not the right support it’s pointless and just words.
@cea_forster We were at breakfast once at a farm shop, steers had escaped and I told a crying 4 yo that the steers are attracted to children crying. She stopped immediately. Parenting hack no32
@cptsdfoundation So true my little one knows she’s different and was convinced she had adhd. It was so important for her to have a term to help her understand.
@thismorning hilarious Nick saying it wouldn’t be fair for women to be paid more than men because it’s not fair! Ash’s response “like it’s is for women now! You’re right it’s not fair!”