Black Bags & The Care Experience
Black Bags and The Care Experience, let’s talk about it…
But first let’s start with what we mean when we refer to The Care Experience.
The Care Experience
Now when we think about The Care Experience, we understand that this means Children and Young People will have experience of the Care System by way of either Foster Care, Residential Children’s Home, Kinship Care, Special Guardianship, Adoption or they’re subject to a Section 17 order through the Children Act 1989 and identified as Children In Need.
With that in mind, in line with the work we do and for the purposes of this blog, we’ll be referring to the Care Experience of Children and Young People who are:
identified as Children Looked After
and experience the care system by way of being subject to a Section 22 Order through the Children Act 1989 and
are placed in Foster Care and Residential Children’s Homes
Experiencing the Care System in this way, we want to let you know that “Your Care Experience is your lived experience, it is not your identity. It’s a Chapter in your story, and not your final destination” (more on this view can be found here).
The Section 22 Order
Now the Section 22 Order places the Legal Duty on Local Authorities/County Councils to a Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of the Child or Young Person in their Care.
Through this Order, the Local Authority/County Council function as a Corporate Parent which means EVERYONE in the Local Authority/County Council, from the Chief Executive down to front line staff, as well as elected council members, are (to be) concerned about children and care leavers as if they were their own and do all that is reasonably possible to ensure the Council is the ‘best parent’ it can be to the child or young person.
Now the word Corporate means a large company or group, and whilst the word Parent does mean a person’s father or mother, it also means to be or act as a Parent to (a child).
Applying these meanings to Children’s Social Care, we can say that the large group of people who work within the Local Authority/County Council are to act as a Parent to the Children, Young People and Care Leavers placed in their Care. This meaning is also extended to Foster Carers, Residential Children’s Home Staff and anyone else who is a part of the large group designated to support the Child, Young Person and Care Leaver.
Guidance on how this large group are to Parent, can be found in these 7 Corporate Parenting Principles:
Act in the Best Interests: Promote the physical and mental health and well-being of looked-after children, young people and care leavers.
Encourage the children, young people and care leavers to express their views, wishes and feelings
Take into account their views, wishes and feelings
Help children, young people and care leavers gain access to and make use of the best services provided by the Local Authority and its partners
Promote high aspirations and seek to secure the best outcomes for children, young people and care leavers
Safety and Stability, ensure that children, young people and care leavers are safe and have stability in their home lives, relationships, in education and work
Prepare children, young people and care leavers for Adulthood and Independent living
Black Bags
Now turning our attention to Black Bags, we’d like to consider this under principle No. 7.
When Judith, our Founder and CEO was placed in Foster Care, she recalls having her belongings placed in a large suitcase which was handed to her Foster Carers.
When she became a Care Leaver at 26 and moved out of her Foster Carers home, Judith recalls packing her belongings in a set of suitcases, a few holdalls, a few cardboard boxes, a few plastic shopping bags and yes a few black bags (because there wasn’t anything else available) to move everything she had accumulated over her years of being in the care system, to her new home.
Judith also recalls that the set of suitcases were bought for her by her Foster Carers (when she was in their Care) which were often packed and used to go on holidays with her Foster Carers and use for weekends away with her biological Family (contact).
From Judith’s perspective, this was a valuable lesson and life skill for how to look after and pack her belongings and travel. This life skill she has carried on into adulthood, along with being able to continue to make use of the suitcases when she became a Care Leaver.
“But she used black bags to move”, we hear someone say. Yes, Judith did, but not for all of her belongings.
NYAS My Things Matter Campaign – launched in 2022
In their ‘Support and Respect Care Experienced Children and their Belongings when they Move’ Report, the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) found that:
80% of children and young people who took part in the NYAS survey said that their belongings were moved in bin bags at least once during their time in care
Just over 60% of professionals surveyed confirmed that they had seen bin bags being used to move the belongings of a child in care over the last 5 years
Only 1 in 3 local authorities provide formal, written guidance for staff and carers when a child is moving home in care
NYAS report, that when the children and young people were asked how they felt when their belongings were moved in bin bags, they responded with these words, ‘Worthless, No One Cares, Angry, Homeless, Sad, Irritated, Burden, Annoyed, Unimportant’.
Now fast forward to 2026 and it’s been highlighted that there are Children and Young People in Care and Care Leavers, echoing the same experience as the Children and Young People in the NYAS Report.
Our CEO also recalls, going into a Local Authority Office for a meeting and seeing a Care Leavers belongings in large clear plastic bags in the corner of the room. When Judith asked, why the belongings were there and in large clear plastic bags, the response received was that the Young Person had gone missing, they had also turned 18 and the Foster Carer had packed and brought the bags into the Office.
Great Initiatives, But Is This Enough?
Through our work here at The Transformed You, we purchase our Care Experienced Mentees a suitcase to help with moving their belongings; but is one suitcase (of any size) enough?
MadLug, founded by Dave Linton, donate a pack-away travel bag to a child in care, when MadLug customers purchase a travel bag or backpack; but is the pack-away travel bag enough?
Another example of a great initiative, is the She Ready Foundation. Because of her own Foster Care experience, Tiffany Haddish has a Luggage Giveaway Programme, giving luggage to every child in care across the United States of America; but is this luggage giveaway programme enough?
The Pledge, Is This Enough?
As part of the NYAS My Things Matter Campaign, Local Authorities/County Councils were given the opportunity to sign up and pledge the following:
We will help you to keep your most precious belongings with you safely during your move and promise they will not be moved in bin bags.
We will provide written guidance for you and anyone helping you to move, which we will publish on our website.
We will never move or throw away your belongings without your consent and will always respect your personal property.
We will support you to make a complaint if any of your belongings have been lost or damaged during your move.
We will communicate with you about your move and ask you how the movement.
But with 74 signatories to date, is this enough?
Corporate Parents, It’s Time to Raise a National Standard!
Now moving is a part of life and there are many people who will share their experiences of having to place their belongings in plastic shopping bags and black bin bags, when they’ve run out of suitcases, holdalls and boxes, as seen in Judith’s case.
However, when every item or the majority of a person’s, child or young person’s in Care belongings are placed in black bin bags, then we have a problem; and whilst it is fair and balanced to note that this way forward is not happening to every Child or Young Person in Care and Care Leaver, it is also fair and balanced to ask that this way forward should not happen to any Child or Young Person in Care and Care Leaver.
With that in mind, we recommend this way forward as a Government National Standard:
Each Local Authority/County Council to have a partnership with a Luggage providing Company to source the appropriate amount of suitcases and holdalls to be used when a Child and Young Person is moved into and through the Care System and for when they become a Care Leaver.
With an understanding of how Children and Young People are placed in and moved through the Care System, a partnership will see our large group of Parents prepared for every planned or unplanned eventuality. Know that if you acting as our Parent, fail to prepare, you’ll be prepared to fail and let down the Children and Young People you are called to Parent.
Each Foster Carer or Residential Children’s Home Support Worker to make sure that the Child’s, Young Person’s or Care Leavers belongings are packed in suitable and appropriate Luggage. This is to be overseen by the Leaving Care Advisor (for the Care Leaver) and both Social Workers (for the Child or Young Person In Care).
Please remember these words ‘Worthless, No One Cares, Angry, Homeless, Sad, Irritated, Burden, Annoyed, Unimportant’, along with the examples shared above; and be mindful of the bigger picture.
If for any reason, you run out of suitcases, in line with points 2 and 3 of the Corporate Parenting principles, speak to the Child, Young Person and Care Leaver to obtain their views on how their belongings should be packed and transported, to make sure their belongings are not left behind or thrown away; and remember as you do so you’re preparing them for Adulthood and Independence in line with point 7.
And finally, having this way forward imbedded in Law, National Policy and Guidance will bring structure, order, alignment, consistency and accountability across our Country, to help preserve, protect and affirm the dignity and respect of our Children and Young People in Care and Care Leavers.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments below or send us an email.
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