National Care Leavers' Month returns in November with a focus on empowerment

National Care Leavers' Month runs throughout November 2026 under the theme 'Leading the Way: From Experience to Empowerment', according to Become, the charity for children in care and young care leavers and a member of the organising Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers. The month celebrates the achievements of care-experienced people and aims to raise awareness of the issues they face among the public, professionals, carers and decision-makers.

Become is hosting free online sessions for care-experienced young people on Wednesdays through the month: young people's rights on 4 November, a policy and employment crossover with its Propel into Work programme on 11 November, UCAS applications on 18 November and wellbeing at university on 25 November. It is also asking care-experienced people to share an achievement they never expected to reach, using the #NCLM hashtag, and offers social media templates for supporters.

The month-long format is still new. The event was known as National Care Leavers' Week until 2025, when a planning group of professionals and care-experienced people linked to the Alliance extended it to a full month, after care-experienced people said one week was too short to recognise their successes and press the issues that still need attention, according to the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum, which announced the change in May 2025.

For 2026 Become's page sets out no specific asks of councils, employers or foster carers, concentrating instead on encouraging supporters to learn about the care system and amplify care leavers' own stories.

What this means for you: foster carers supporting young people approaching or past 18 may want to pass on the workshops, particularly the sessions on rights and university applications. Fostering services, councils and agencies often run local events for care leavers and Staying Put households during the month, so it is worth checking what your own service has planned.