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Where does the stigma around care-experienced people originate from?

Most social workers believe that the care system itself is a substantial contributor to the stigma young people in care and care leavers experience

By on February 11, 2025 in Children
Photo by Community Care

In a 2018 survey of young people in care, one in eight said adults had done things that made them feel “embarrassed about being in care”.

The finding came in research for Bright Spots, charity Coram Voice’s ongoing programme to highlight care-experienced young people’s views, in order to influence local authority practice.

Since then, various literary works, campaigns to make ‘care experience’ a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 and qualitative research have highlighted the effects of stigma on care-experienced people.

Lemn Sissay’s views on stigma in the care system

But where does the stigma around being in care stem from?

In an interview with Community Care, renowned poet and care leaver Lemn Sissay said that the idea of ‘something being wrong’ with children in care originated from those directly supporting them.

“[In my experience,] the most institutionalised people were those who worked in the care system,” he said.

“It’s very easy to have a blanket opinion of a person who’s obviously traumatised but quite demanding.”

A Community Care poll with 530 votes found that social workers largely agreed with him.

Over half (56%) said that the stigma surrounding care-experienced people originated, to a large extent, from within the care system itself, with a further 28% saying this was “somewhat” the case.

Only 16% believed felt this was “not very much” or “not at all” true.

What are your thoughts about the stigma children in care face within the care system?

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure whom you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

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One Response to Where does the stigma around care-experienced people originate from?

  1. Anonymous February 11, 2025 at 3:48 pm #

    Everyone who works in a corporate environment, private sector or public sector including in social work, is ‘institutionalised’, it the inevitable end point of bureaucracy and rules. I don’t think that should come as a surprise. How you define stigma though might be less easy to do. We think we know it, we think we can identify it, we think we fight against it but perhaps it’s more honest to acknowledge that we might not be. To my mind attributing blanket opinions onto others is another form of stigma. Growing up in the care system, foster and institutional care, only equips me to comment on the people who cared or who neglected or who abused me. Neither I nor Mr Sissay would have known what motivated staff who we did not have any contact with nor about the experiences of other care recieving children let alone adults as we weren’t adults then. The ready to internalise negative experiences as “originating” within the care system is a cop out. We are the system and we can’t depersonalise that away from ourselves by blaming the “system”. I had brilliant care staff who I would have loved to be my parents and friends and others I had very unpleasant murderous emotion about. Accepting that systems mitigate against love is a start to learn how to love. Feeling virtuous through self flagellation is just self indulgent.