If you support care-experienced young people as a foster carer or practitioner, you probably want to ensure that they’re well-prepared to manage their finances when they leave care.
Between 2023 and 2024 my team and I undertook research in which we spoke directly with care-experienced young people about money. They told us what they really need to support them to manage their finances.
And we spent time with staff and foster carers, listening to their needs and experiences too. We learned so much from these conversations. Together with the young people and practitioners, we co-produced a new set of resources for practitioners that we called ‘Building the Money Springboard’.
We then expanded the Money Springboard into training sessions where we shared our knowledge with practitioners from over 100 organisations – and heard more insights from them too, in the role of a neutral friend.
Some of our learnings stood out to us as ‘easier wins’ – simple ideas that can make a real difference. We’re sharing them here in the hope that some of them will be useful to you, as you support care-experienced young people to prepare for financial independence.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our research or joined a training session.
A quick note about our language
In this article, we use the word ‘practitioner’ to recognise the craft of being both a staff member or a foster carer.
When talking about care-experienced children and young people, for brevity we might say just ‘children’ or ‘young people’, but we are thinking about both.
1. It can be painful for care-experienced young people to talk about money.
Given the role that money plays in many of the experiences that bring children and young people into care (including addiction, neglect and abuse), it can be deeply painful for them to talk or even think about money. To be effective, money learning with this group of young people must take a trauma-informed approach.
See our Guide to working supportively with money-related trauma.
2. An optimistic tone is important.
At the same time, many young people leaving care do want to know how to handle their money. They are often excited about their future, and want financial learning to be delivered with that future in mind. This message came through very clearly when we spoke to young people – and it shaped the Money Springboard.
Young people want us to prepare them to live successful lives, where they have the skills to see them through the downs as well as the ups.
3. Care-experienced children can miss out on learning they would pick up in a family home.
This can be especially likely in group houses. Practitioners tend to not talk about money, and certainly not about their own financial experiences. This is understandable, as practitioners are careful to maintain professional boundaries.
But care-experienced children can miss out on money topics that might naturally be discussed in a home environment, such as:
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Energy costs and utilities – what is a lot to pay; the fact that you can often reduce costs and ways to do that.
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The advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money in different circumstances.
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The example of relatives’ money habits and outcomes, both positive and negative – for example what happens if you spend all your money on payday, or if you save regularly.
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Phone contracts – without parents to take out a phone contract for them, young people miss out on the experience of managing this before they are old enough to get their own contract at 18.
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Cooking good food on a tight budget – young people don’t just need the skills to plan and cook meals for themselves. They also need to be able to cook cheaper meals than they may have been used to, as their budget can drop substantially when they move to independence. This can be an uncomfortable truth for practitioners to communicate.
4. Practitioners worry about burdening children and young people, and this can discourage them from talking about money.
In many ways, this protective instinct is spot-on. As mentioned in point 1), money can be a painful subject for care-experienced young people, and we can risk overwhelming them in our attempts have the ‘money chat’.
On the other hand, ignoring the issue of money can come with real consequences. In our research for example, we heard from practitioners who had seen young people learn for the first time that they had to pay tax, only when it was deducted from their first pay packet. The experience disrupted the young people’s financial planning, and their sense of joy in what they had achieved – in fact it left them feeling angry and hurt.
5. Little and often is best.
But we believe that there is a ‘middle way’. We can avoid crises like the one just described, by having gentle or playful conversations about money with young people, in everyday settings. Our advice is to aim to do this repeatedly over a longer period of time, and definitely away from any flashpoints.
Our ‘10 things to know about money by the age of…’ resources are full of ways that you can do this, and share information with children and young people appropriately and effectively.
10 things to know about money by the age of11
10 things to know about money by the age of 14
10 things to know about money by 16+
6. Practitioners care deeply about making sure young people are equipped for the future.
But it isn’t always easy. And why would it be? The core skills in a practitioner’s job description don’t usually include ‘personal finance expert’! We all have different levels of confidence and knowledge about money, and that’s ok.
To support you, we have put together this toolkit for practitioners. It will guide you through the process of supporting a young person as they develop their first budget. It is designed to be helpful whatever your own relationship with money, including if you don’t have experience with budgeting.
Our final thoughts
Money skills are a crucially important piece of learning for young people who are in care or moving to independent living. It has been a privilege to hear the perspectives of young people and practitioners alike, to develop together ideas and solutions together, and to have the opportunity to share these with you.
Our sincere thanks to everyone who has been a part of the Money Springboard journey.
– Carrie Comfort, Manager, QSA Made of Money