ABSTRACT
Age is important not only because of its legal implications in determining who is eligible for entry and discharge from care and for aftercare services but also because to some extent it determines need. Within the care leavers surveyed two fifths had left care when they were eighteen with the remainder split between seventeen and sixteen year olds with slightly more of the latter. With the exception of one young person with a travelling background, ethnic minorities were not represented in either population. This gender and religious imbalance and absence of ethnic minorities would bear further research consideration to tease out what it may be saying about the relationship between the child welfare system and its societal context. Although the findings are sobering in indicating how much development is required to meet the new challenge to leaving care services, they also provide useful pointers as to how that development might take place.
