Hansard

As the amendments in this group introduce a new topic into the debate, these will not be the briefest of remarks. I promise, though, that all my contributions in subsequent groups will be far briefer.Estranged young people fall into a black hole at the moment, but they still have important and largely unmet needs. Those needs are often similar—and, in many cases, identical—to those of young people and young adults who are care experienced.When the state takes children into care and therefore takes on parenting responsibilities, we recognise the need for support into adult life, generally up to the age of 25, although I realise that such aspects are up for debate as part of these proceedings. The same applies even if someone leaves care at 16, so years of additional support in some manner are still available. If someone has a family breakdown on their 16th birthday, they have at least a decade more of the need for parental support, under the Government's own logic, even though they are already of an age at which they could live independently.On advocacy, the needs of 16 to 25-year-olds are obvious. We do not expect 16, 18, 21 or even 25-year-olds to be completely self-sufficient in all circumstances. In fact, as Roz McCall said last week, the need for advocacy or support can arise at any point throughout one’s adult life. Many young adults continue to receive housing, food, clothing and financial support from family members, but there is also the bigger-picture stuff such as crisis support, housing guarantors, emotional support and general life guidance. If you are 18 and you have just moved out to go to university, the prospect of securing funding, housing, jobs and healthcare without somebody giving you some kind of advice, guidance or advocacy will be really daunting, and most young people get that sort of thing from their family.Care-experienced young people are entitled to at least some support, and through this bill we are trying to improve the support that is available to them. However, the transition to adulthood is often the point at which family breakdown and estrangement happen in a way that does not result in a young person entering the care system. Sadly, it is often the first opportunity for those who have experienced abuse in childhood to escape that abuse, but, as a result, they are simply, and usually quite suddenly, alone in their life. They often have obscure or complex needs due to neglect and abuse that they have survived, and they are at far, far higher risk of homelessness, poverty, addiction and other health issues. They typically do not know what they are entitled to—for example, crisis grants through the Scottish welfare fund—and the lack of advocacy and support often compounds the harms that are already done to estranged young people. If you are estranged because of coercive control or similar and your healthcare records have been withheld from you, you will often not know how to access them for yourself, and it is then far harder to access the healthcare that you need.A number of colleagues will know Blair Anderson, who works with me in Parliament but is also a campaigner for estranged young people who have survived abuse in childhood. He mentions his own example, in which his community health index number was withheld from him to prevent him seeing a general practitioner other than his own family’s doctor, as part of the coercive control that was inflicted on him. Like many people—probably like most people, and certainly like most 18 and 19-year-olds—he did not know how to get that information for himself. However, unlike most young people, Blair did not have anyone to advocate for and support him at that point, as he was going through estrangement. As a result, he went through the first 18 months away from home without any treatment for severe, life-threatening depression and substance abuse. The lack of awareness of sources of financial support very often results in young people maintaining partial contact with their abusers, who maintain control by being the source of money that they need for things such as food and housing.I have lodged these amendments to test the interest of Parliament and the Scottish Government in doing something for estranged young people. I am certainly not wedded to the approach that I have proposed, but the fact is that, when I raised issues that affect estranged young people a number of times in this parliamentary session, I was told repeatedly that they were not the right points at which to raise them and that the bills to which I was lodging such amendments were not the right ones. I do not think that there are any bills that are more appropriate than this one; it is not the perfect bill, but there are no more appropriate bills. Indeed, there are no more bills in this portfolio area, so this will be the last opportunity to have this debate, and it is an opportunity for us to commit to doing something for estranged young people.I am looking for a commitment from the Government to take on further work in the area. As I said, I am not wedded to the amendments, and I would not be particularly taken aback if the Government did not support them. However, we have got through this entire session of Parliament and we have gone backwards on support for estranged young people. In 2021, there was one charity in Scotland that supported such people, but I believe that it folded in 2023. No one is advocating for and supporting that group in our society, and I think that the Government needs to take on some responsibility for doing that.I move amendment 152.