My Care Experienced speech at the House of Lords

Kerrie (to the right, in pink) delivers speech at the House of Lords, Monday 21 July 2025

Kerrie Portman conveys the life-changing impact of listening to young people like her

One of my first-ever visits to Parliament was in 2022, as part of the It’s Our Care action day, where groups such as the Just for Kids Law campaign group I was part of at the time lobbied MPs about Care Leaver rights. During that visit, I bought a House of Commons teddy bear.

The light brown bear, in its green shirt bearing the crowned portcullis logo, was not only a token to remember the day, but also a reminder of my burgeoning political ambitions in advocacy for Care Experienced people. The next time I visited Parliament, I bought a House of Lords bear to add to my ‘ambition collection’.

Three years later, I had the immense privilege of being invited to an event on Care Experience in the House of Lords. The event, Care Experience ‘as if’ it were a Protected Characteristic, was arranged by Care Leaver Advocate, Terry Galloway following on from his campaign travelling around the UK supporting councils to pass motions to act as though being Care Experienced is a protected characteristic.

When the official invitation arrived I was so excited

As of early July 2025, 122 councils had passed the motion, meaning 54% of the country lives in an area with a council treating Care Experience as a protected characteristic. This includes Cambridge City Council, where I spoke in support of the motion in February last year. Baroness Longfield hosted the event, with Chris Law MP and Darren Paffey MP chairing it, supported by Josh MacAlister MP and Chris Wild.

When the official invitation arrived, stating Baroness Longfield “requests the pleasure of your company”, with the House of Lords logo in the upper left-hand corner, I was so excited I printed out the invitation to hang up in pride of place.

Kerry’s official invitation, speech and House of Commons teddy bear

Though this was already beyond my wildest dreams, I was later invited to speak during the meeting about being a Care Experienced person in Cambridgeshire, alongside other Care Experienced people speaking about their councils. This is what I said:

My name is Kerrie Portman and I am a Care Experienced person living in Cambridgeshire. I first moved to Cambridgeshire when I was placed in a Children’s Home over 80 miles from where I was taken into Care. Unfortunately, the experience got worse from there. I was later told what I experienced was ‘torture’ and that the Children’s Home had later been shut down by the police due to ‘too many’ incidents of child sexual abuse. Despite this, I was still blamed by social services for reporting issues and continue to struggle with the aftermath of the abuse.

When I moved back to Cambridgeshire six years later, I had hoped things had improved. In some ways, I think things have. Cambridgeshire County Council and several of the district councils have passed the Motion to Act as though being Care Experienced is a Protected Characteristic. Early last year, I was invited by Cllr Cameron Holloway to speak at Cambridge City Council in support of the Motion, which was unanimously supported. It felt amazing to be heard and for people to want to hear. It is vital to have politicians like Cllr Holloway who actively want to include Care Experienced people and who are actively curious about our lived experiences.

Unfortunately, in some ways, Cambridgeshire has not improved regarding Care Experienced people. Last month, one of our county councillors infamously referred to Looked After Children as “evil” in the council chambers. Attitudes like this are part of the reason why Children’s Homes like the one I was in were able to abuse vulnerable children with minimal consequences.

Though it was great to see many local politicians speaking out at the time, far too many dismissed the issue as an isolated incident and an issue of a bad man from a bad Party, instead of taking the opportunity to listen to Care Experienced people or understand that it is not an isolated comment. I am routinely treated as though I’m inherently bad or ‘evil’ when I try to engage with statutory services throughout Cambridgeshire, leading to avoidable worsening of life outcomes. I was homeless for the fourth time earlier this year, which was avoidable if local services were appropriately set up to deal with Care Experienced people.

When I asked about the systemic discrimination at a Cambridgeshire County Council meeting last week, the answer I received suggested the council is not aware of the divorce between what was described and our lived reality. And I did not think they wanted to learn or wanted me there talking about it. I also asked about this in that meeting, because the council would not let me ask the chair what they thought about Corporate Parents who referred to their Corporate Children as ‘evil’.

Councillors are legally amongst the corporate parents of Looked After Children and Care Leavers. They are meant to look at our lives and ask if it would be good enough for their non-corporate children. We need more politicians who take that with the seriousness it deserves, and the first step is to want to understand our lives.

I am very grateful we have some county councillors, such as Cllr Bryony Goodliffe, and other local councillors like Cllr Holloway who are champions of Care Experienced people and who I do believe truly care. We need politicians who understand, care and listen. I hope this will become the norm, and not the exception.

It is incredibly important to have events such as this, where Care Experienced people are truly and properly listened to by those in positions of power who genuinely seem to care, not to want to only use our voices as a tick box exercise in empty inclusion.

The key to improving the lives of Care Experienced people: listening

Despite how surreal it felt – not only to be invited into the House of Lords but to have a seat at the table with a typed name card – I felt a great deal more welcomed, valued, empowered and listened to than when I’d tried to speak at Cambridge County Council’s meeting the week prior.

This is the key to improving the lives of Care Experienced people: listening. Truly listening, caring and wanting to change things. Because there has been a myriad of data and stories detailing the poor outcomes of Care Experienced people for a long time. There is data to prove that investing in Care Experienced people saves the state money, as well as improving our life outcomes and quality of life. Too many politicians and professionals divorce themselves from our lived experiences and their role in enforcing them, preferring instead to hide behind negative stereotypes.

It isn’t easy to change the Care System, but there is hope. In only three short years, the House of Lords bear I bought, as an outlandish symbol of aspirations that I thought were beyond my wildest dreams, now reminds me of an incredible experience.