John Hill is national project manager for 'What Makes the Difference' (WMTD). 

National Care Leavers' Week takes place this year between October 22 and 29.

Question: Can you briefly outline the work of the 'What Makes the Difference?' project and how it has influenced forthcoming developments in the care sector?

John Hill: WMTD is a European-funded project helping to improve outcomes for young people in and leaving care. We have been running for two years and plan to finish our work late spring 2008. 

Our aim has been to work across England to help identify 'what makes the difference?' We have worked with over 90 local authorities and almost 1,000 young people in that time. WMTD has focused it's work on four themes: preparation and planning; education and training; work experience and employment and empowerment and service user involvement.
 
A main aim of the project is to challenge and influence local practice and national policy and to that end our work with local authorities on the ground as well as working closely with government in developing the Care Matters proposals has been a great success.

Question: Government has clearly picked up on the issues that National Care Leavers' Week campaigners have been shouting about for a number of years. Which aspects of the Time for Change white paper are you most excited about? Which will really make a difference to children leaving care?

John Hill: Time will tell whether Care Matters will make a difference. Personally, I think it was time for a major re-think about 'care' and what care means to young people on the ground. 

I think in general that we have forgotten to focus national policy development and local services on the needs of young people. Care Matters can re-focus our attention to achieve that for the next few years. 

I believe that young people haven't really ever been considered as real partners in developing local services and as such I really like CIC Councils and particularly, the Pledge. 

If local authorities really value these proposals and implement them properly they can make a big difference to local services – as young people were asking for. 

At a local level, more resources for education support, extended placements post-18, more supported accommodation and better regulation before leaving care are all valuable gains. Some proposals are being piloted and we will see what happens. 

I also think that virtual head teachers could be a good thing. CIC services need an advocate who understands the education world to help them get better services for young people in and from care. Overall, though I'm probably most excited about the fact that Care Matters speaks of young people in and from care as having to be the priority group for local authorities – as Alan Johnson said 'putting them first'. 

This has been missing for too many young people for too long and their needs get lost amongst the many other needy young people out there. As corporate parents, local authorities have assumed at least in part parental responsibility for young people in care – it's about time they acted as parents and placed them at the top of their priority list.

Question: Can you outline some of the project initiatives within the WMTD project that will support these changes?

John Hill: We have developed a plethora of practical resources, which are either already available or due for launch during National Care Leavers' Week.

These include an accredited preparation for independence training pack for professionals and an integrated independence pack for young people, 'What Works' in education support, training, work experience and employment, a World of Work CD Rom in partnership with The Who Cares? Trust, and National Standards for Leaving Care with a tool-kit full of good practice examples from across the country.

There is also 'What made the difference for you?' The largest piece of peer research so far by young people from care and a guide to developing a model of peer support and service user involvement, as well as Leavingcare.org – the national information website for care and leaving care and a guide to corporate parenting that will encompass all of our research and learning with a film made by young people for 'developing your pledge'.

Question: There is still a huge ‘postcode lottery’ effect impacting on the experiences of a child leaving care. What difference will the work that WMTD has done and the forthcoming legislation make to children leaving care in the ‘worst performing’ areas?

John Hill: On our own, WMTD can't make corporate parents care properly for their young people when they haven't before. 

We have worked in many authorities over the past two years and I have found everywhere I go that as individuals, the people involved do want to improve services. 

So why do they struggle? For the most part, where they are struggling they just don't know how to succeed. I hope that by WMTD showing them 'the best', they will see how they can improve their own services. Alongside this, our work in pushing for change and helping develop the Care Matters proposals has highlighted the need for change at national level and the CIC Bill will push that agenda forward. 

Most importantly, our work on empowering young people – via Care Matters, but also at a local level, with the young people we have worked with – will, I hope, strengthen their ability to advocate for themselves. I think it is that which will make the biggest difference.  We do need national policy change – but I've realised after nearly 30 years working with young people in and from care that it is them who can really make a difference to their lives if we empower them to do so.

Question: The changes proposed in the White Paper have been widely welcomed, however resource issues have been cited as a potential barrier to achieving the aspiration it contains for all children leaving care. What are your views?

John Hill: There's never enough money and there never will be. In fairness to this current government they have pumped money into services – perhaps not always wisely but they have. 

Some of our work has looked at services across the country and seems to suggest that it isn't just money that makes good services. If as parents it was the salary we earned that made us good parents, that would mean poor parents would be bad ones. 

My parents were poor and they were good and that goes for many others out there too. Good parenting is a skill. 

Of course you need money, but you also need a commitment to care, the determination to put young people first and probably a bit of luck too. 

I would like more money for services to young people in and from care but I sometimes think that the issue of money (or the lack of it) is too often used as an excuse for not caring enough and can waste very valuable time. 

I think that with a bit of commitment from local councillors, determination from managers and workers and a lot more listening to young people we could do a lot better with the money we already have and the additional resources we are getting for Care Matters would go a lot further as a result.   

Question: Children in Care have been elevated to a higher political profile than ever before under the current government, however, they are still an incredibly marginal group in terms of the wider population and the competition for political attention. What more could be done to educate public and politicians about the particular needs of this group?

John Hill: When we have asked young people about this, interestingly, they have responded by either saying that CIC shouldn't have to be a high profile issue for the public or politicians, that we should get on with our job of being their corporate parents, or by saying that they are too small a group to be important enough and nobody care unless they are making mistakes in their lives which hit the press.

I've seen and been a part of discussions at the highest level in the last two years that have shown me the commitment from current politicians to make a difference. 

I think we, as the professionals involved, should now go away and do the job we are paid to do as corporate parents with our young people so that we don't have to be spending the same time in the future educating people about their needs. 

Question: Some might say there is no need for a National Care Leavers’ Week after this year as the campaign has achieved all its objectives in terms of recognising the need for more gradual transitions, better housing and improved access and support in areas around education, training and  employment. Will there be anything left to do next year?

There will always be a need for National Care Leavers Week. I would love to see the whole week focussed upon the amazing success of young people in and from care.  Often in the face of adversity, most of these young people succeed really well. 

I have been lucky enough and very proud to work with many young people in and from care who have constantly amazed me with their ability to do well in their lives against all odds. National Care Leavers Week has to be our opportunity to celebrate their success and our pride in that success as their corporate parents and in them as individuals.   

Question: If you could give one message to Gordon Brown about children leaving care, what would it be?

John Hill: As a parent yourself you know what you need to feel and do to truly care for your child. 

The task for professionals/corporate parents/local authorities is to replicate that for over 60,000 children and young people in their care in this country. 

It is a really difficult task. It has to be more than integrated service provision, endless report writing and child protection systems – we have to develop a way of working that places the young person at the centre of service provision. 

They themselves must 'feel' cared for by the professionals involved if they are to have sufficient emotional resilience to succeed. We have to design our services to ensure that happens and your government needs to ensure that process happens or we will not improve outcomes to the level that we all want.