Support for care experienced adults
Vision statement ten: Care experienced adults must have a right to access to supportive, caring services for as long as they require. Those services and the people who work in them must have a primary focus on the development and maintenance of supportive relationships that help people access what they need to thrive.
What care experienced adults say
This section presents the evidence reviewed through an experience lens, focusing on what support, or the lack of it, feels like for adults with care experience since 2020. Click on the take me to navigation pane and jump to different sections here, including sources.
The accounts reviewed described how stigma, isolation, complex systems and difficulties with health, housing, finances and records continue to shape adult life. When support is stable, respectful and informed by people’s experiences, adults described feeling more able to move forward with confidence.
The evidence presented here reflects what was available and most relevant at this stage of the work, and is more limited than in some other Vision Statements. Much of the evidence relating to experiences of care and organisational learning about the 'care system' focuses on childhood and the early stages of adulthood. Building a more detailed and dedicated understanding of care experienced adults’ experiences and what organisations are learning about supporting them is an important area for future development.
To see what changes Scotland is making and still has to make for the promise to be kept, click on the moving on and lifelong support route map in Plan 24-30. See more about the work of change across Scotland here.
Across the materials reviewed, adults describe how stigma and assumptions continue long after they leave care. The accounts show that care experience is sometimes treated as a risk in itself, affecting how adults are spoken to, assessed or involved in decisions. Adults highlight experiences of being belittled or dismissed, particularly in health and social work settings, which leaves them feeling judged rather than supported. These interactions shape how safe and respected adults feel when seeking help.
Across the accounts included, adults described not having the informal support networks that others rely on. Without family or trusted people to turn to, they reported struggling with daily responsibilities, housing, finances and parenting. Some adults described how this isolation is felt particularly sharply when raising children, where worries about being judged or misunderstood make it harder to reach out for support. This isolation adds pressure to situations that are already demanding. The absence of reliable personal support makes practical tasks harder and major life events feel more challenging and uncertain.
Across the sources, adults described difficulties navigating fragmented and complex systems. The evidence showed that many rely on advocacy to understand entitlements, contact services or challenge decisions. Delays, inconsistent communication and the need to repeatedly chase support are common themes. Adults explained how these experiences contribute to frustration and uncertainty, reinforcing feelings of powerlessness when essential help is hard to access.
The evidence highlights the emotional significance of records, when adults are seeking to understand their history, relationships and identity, or seeking redress. Adults describe distress when records are incomplete, inaccurate or heavily redacted and when they receive limited explanation or support to understand what they contain. These experiences can bring up painful memories and feelings of confusion or anger. The accounts show how important it is that record access is supported in trauma-informed and clear ways that help adults navigate the process safely.
Across the materials, adults emphasised the value of support that is steady, human and responsive to their lives. Some accounts described the difference it makes to connect with others who share similar experiences, particularly other care experienced parents, where mutual understanding reduces fear of judgement and helps build confidence. The evidence shows that trauma-informed practice, clear communication and consistent relationships help adults feel believed, understood and better able to engage with services. Adults described gaining confidence when support adapts to changing needs and when workers recognise the lifelong impact of care experience. These accounts highlight how respectful, relational and coordinated approaches can transform how supported adulthood feels.
What this tells Scotland
This section draws together what the evidence shows about how support is experienced by care experienced adults and how this shapes trust, safety, identity and access to help across adulthood. It focuses on impact and consequence rather than prescribing action. While the evidence base for care experienced adults is less developed than for children and young people, clear patterns are evident and warrant continued attention.
Across the evidence, care experience continues to shape how adults are viewed and treated long after childhood. When care experience is framed as a risk rather than part of a person’s history, adults describe feeling judged, monitored or dismissed. This undermines trust in services and can make seeking help feel unsafe or exposing, particularly in health, social work and parenting contexts.
Many care experienced adults do not have access to the informal advice, reassurance and practical help that others rely on. The absence of family or trusted networks means that everyday responsibilities and major life events are faced alone. This increases pressure, makes mistakes more costly and leaves adults more exposed when systems are difficult to navigate.
The evidence shows that fragmented systems, unclear pathways and inconsistent communication place a heavy burden on care experienced adults. Repeatedly chasing information, explaining circumstances and challenging decisions contributes to frustration and exhaustion. When essential support is difficult to access, adults describe feeling powerless rather than supported.
Accessing care records is a significant and emotional process for many adults. Incomplete, inaccurate or heavily redacted records, particularly when shared without preparation or explanation, can cause distress and reopen earlier trauma. The evidence shows that records are not just administrative documents, but deeply connected to identity, understanding and healing.
Across the accounts, the presence of steady, respectful relationships makes a decisive difference. Adults describe feeling more confident and able to engage when workers take time, listen, explain decisions and stay involved as circumstances change. Where support is relational and responsive, adulthood feels more navigable and less isolating.
Support that adapts over time, rather than ending abruptly, helps adults remain connected to help when needs shift. The evidence shows that continuity of relationships and access reduces fear of asking for help and allows support to be used earlier, rather than only at crisis point. Where continuity is missing, trust is harder to sustain.
Taken together, the evidence highlights an unresolved question about how Scotland understands and enacts lifelong responsibility to care experienced adults. While there are examples of learning and development, gaps in access, coordination and relational continuity continue to shape adult experiences. Building a clearer and more consistent approach to supporting care experienced adults remains an important area for national attention
Sources Referenced
The purpose of the below citations and summaries is to ensure that sources used are clear and accessible. Web links to the sources are provided, where possible.
Document summaries are provided for any document where analysis produced more than ten ‘coded segments’. ‘Coded segments’ refer to portions of a document that analysts identified and labelled as relevant to the key themes for each Vision Statement.
All documents that have informed the development of the Vision Statement, even if they had fewer than 10 coded segments, are cited in the ‘Additional Sources’ box below.
Who Cares? Scotland—a national independent membership organisation for care experienced people, dedicated to supporting, empowering and amplifying the voices of Scotland’s care community—provided targeted analysis of their existing evidence for The Promise Story of Progress, sharing material that mapped to the relevant vision statements and contributed insight into how their internal data, participation activity, and qualitative evidence could inform the experiential strand of the Promise Story of Progress.
Their reports reflected advocacy work carried out between 1st January 2020 and 30th June 2025, during which time Who Cares? Scotland advocacy workers supported around 4,800 individuals. Although the report findings do not represent the experience of every care experienced individual in Scotland, they highlight issues that need continued attention as Scotland works to understand what is changing and what still needs to be addressed.
An anonymised and abridged collation of these reports is available at: Who Cares? Scotland. The Promise Story of Progress: Vision Statement advocacy reports by Who Cares? Scotland (abridged). The Promise Scotland, 2025. https://www.plan2430.scot/media/5hnlt5ye/wcs-vision-statement-advocacy-reports-abridged.pdf
100 Days of Listening. Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum (Staf), 2024. https://www.staf.scot/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=36c14562-d65a-4866-b6bf-685d0462974b.
Aberdeen City Council, Champions Board of West Dunbartonshire Council, The City of Edinburgh Council, Future Pathways, Social Work Scotland, and Who Cares? Scotland. Accessing Records in Scotland: What People with Care Experience Tell Us about the Right of Access. Social Work Scotland, 2024. https://socialworkscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/RTA-LONGFORM-REPORT-15-12-23-1.pdf.
Disabled Children and Young People’s Experiences of Social Work Services: A Thematic Review. Care Inspectorate, 2024.
https://www.careinspectorate.scot/strategic-scrutiny/library/strategic-reports/thematic-review-of-services-for-disabled-children-young-people.
Guinchard, Sydney. “Experiences of Parents in ‘The Village,’ an Online Support Network for Care- Experienced Parents: A Thematic Analysis.” Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care 23, no. 2 (2024).
https://www.celcis.org/application/files/1717/3141/3237/SJRCC_2024_Vol_23_No_2_Guinchard_S_Experience_of_parents_in_the_village.pdf
Transitions for Care Experienced Young People: A Thematic Review. Care Inspectorate, 2024. https://www.careinspectorate.scot/strategic-scrutiny/library/strategic-reports/care-experienced-young-people-thematic-review.