This report is based on the voices and experiences of care experienced young people who have been, or are currently, homeless across Wales. The aim of this research is to amplify these young people’s voices to highlight the challenges they have faced when homeless and the need for reform of systems which have failed to prevent their homelessness. We appreciate that the experiences of young people presented in this report are by no means representative of the experiences of the majority of care experienced young people in Wales, but a disproportionately high number of looked-after or formerly looked-after young people will recognise their own stories in those presented here.
Interviews with young people took place from October 2019 until March 2020. The participants in the study were aged from 17 to 24 and were living in 10 different local authorities, at the time of interview. We spoke to 11 young women and 16 young men who had been in care and experienced youth homelessness. The research was co-designed with care experienced young people from across Wales. Young people have been meaningfully involved in the study from set-up to dissemination. We were privileged to work with a group of care experienced peer researchers who have selected themes for the study, codesigned interview questions, attended interviews with us, analysed the findings and disseminated the research. We have also presented our findings to young people across Wales to check they reflect their experiences.
