As part of the ‘Britain’s Forgotten Children’ season, this programme revealed the scandals of the British care system and, presented by reporter Rageh Omaar asked, is the care system working or failing our children?

By the end of the programme, there was no doubt that it’s the latter; children who have been through the care system in this country are likely to leave that system – at just 16 years old – ill equipped to deal with independence and with emotional and psychological problems. They are also more likely to become homeless, drug and/or alcohol users and fall foul of the law.

This documentary revealed some shocking statistics; for instance, one in five girls leaving care will become mothers within a year, nearly a quarter of prisoners and one in three homeless people have been in care. This is the bleak outlook that faces many of the 80,000 children who are in care in the UK and one of the first questions Rageh asked as the programme began was, “What’s being done to help the 80,000 kids who risk being lost in care?” Read more & comment »