Sadly, the findings of the children's rights director's survey on the views of young people about leaving care are not new (Fears of children leaving care, 12 March). From 1975, young people, in their own organisations – Who Cares? (1970s), National Association of Young People in Care (1980s), and A National Voice (from 1999 and still going) – raised the same concerns. They spoke, they wrote and they yelled about being "kicked out of care" too young and poorly prepared and about the changes of staff – "it's the coming and going that hurts". And it was "being treated differently" (described as "worrying" in the 2012 survey) that brought young people together for the first time in the early 1970s: those living in children's homes campaigned to "ban the book". Instead of clothing vouchers they wanted to be given money to buy clothes, to have the same choice as other young people. Today, A National Voice is campaigning to "bin the bag". They want all young people to be given suitcases, not bin bags, for moving their belongings. As one young person said: "Bin bags are for carrying rubbish – what does that say about us?" The major scandal is that these issues have outlived successive generations of young people leaving care, as detailed in Care Less Lives (www.leavingcare.org).
Professor Mike Stein
Social policy research unit, University of York
• The survey showing that many children felt they were pushed out of care too early is disturbing. The children's departments (1948-71) were of varying quality but the best maintained contact even after care. In a study of Manchester children's department, I found the councillors on its children's committee drawing on its legal right to help children who had been in care up to the age of 21. They gave financial help to one who had returned to Pakistan. Departments run by specialised childcare staff and with councillors who knew about individuals in care had their advantages.
Bob Holman
Glasgow