A RADICAL POLITICAL VOICE AND SOCIALIST ANALYSIS BY THE CARE EXPERIENCED FOR THE CARE CARE EXPERIENCED LACES LAUNCH STATEMENT who we are what we stand for what we stand against PAGE 1 EST 20 20 lace.solidarity @ gmail.com @ lace.solidarity lace.solidarity @ lace.solidarity C a p i t a l i s m A u s t e r i t y c o m m o d i f i c a t i o n P r i v a t i s a t i o n r P o f i t e e r i n g E x p l o i t a t i o n 13 b to reverse all austerity cuts , to fully fund all support programmes and packages for care - experienced users , to stop the failures of the state where we have to rely on the donations of charities but all our basic needs and more should be met by professional public sector services W H O W E A R e . WHAT WE STAND FOR & AGAINST. 5 We stand for Socialism , We are unapologetically political , We provide collective political solidarity , not cold detached ' charity ' 1 ' Looked After and Care Experienced Solidarity ' ( or LACES / LACE - SOLIDARITY ) is a network of individuals who have been under a care order as some point in their life and had interactions with child protective services 2 This can range from anyone currently in the care system as a ' looked after child ' living in foster care , a children ' s home , residential care , child supported living , unaccompanied asylum seeker refuge , adoption services , youth prisoner , forensic hospital patient , on remand etc and all those out of care as care leavers in whatever setting they find themselves now 3 Initially our members are currently based in the United Kingdom so our analysis , commentary and organising will most likely focus on care - related topics in the UK 4 but by no means will it be UK exclusive and we aim to reach out to and build our network from other care experienced communities across the world 6 There are several hundred thousand care experienced people in the UK alone and millions more across the world and we put forward the statement that from start to finish of someone ' s time in care no matter how short or long , it has been political actions and political choices that have shaped it and contributed to your experience whilst in it 7 it was those in political power or those with access to it that decided how much funding should be cut from your local authority , how much to under staff your local social services , to cut your mental health provision , to close your local youth centre – nursery – women ' s refuge , to sell off and privatise local council services and homes 8 Politics can do this because politics is power and power is currently is in the wrong hands when it needs to be in yours , for children ' s protective services and care services to be ran democratically under the control And management of service users and service workers , not for private companies profit or austerity politicians 9 Care experienced individuals come from all demographics but overwhelmingly most come from working - class communities and from 2008 onwards since the finical crash capitalists have been making the working - class pay for their mistake , giving the bankers bonuses whilst they tore our communities apart with austerity cuts ... with one of the biggest factors of family breakdown and youth going into care being poverty related 10 However a care - experienced political voice in the grand scheme of things is barely seen or heard in the mainstream media , let alone a socialist one We aim to change to that That ' s why our political analysis will not be neutral , it will provide a platform to fightback against both the Tories and any Blairite enablers that do the Tories dirty work by passing on austerity cuts and supporting the for - profit marketisation of child care services 11 We are not ' pro ' or ' anti ' children and young people going into care The reasons for youth going into care are complex and multi - faceted but we are against how the service is managed and whose interest its ran in ... in the interests of market forces and the profit motive 12 We organise , fight and campaign against how child care services are ran like a for - profit business , against how the The Financial Times , the paper of choice for so many ‘ Venture capitalists ' or more appropriately vulture capitalists stated that how foster care is a ' growth business ripe for consolidation '. To make money for share - holders , not for all funding to go back into avenues of child welfare 13 a It ' s impossible to fit our entire programme and ideas here but we will expand it over time through our different platforms and as our capacity grows but our fundamentals would include to fight for the rights of care - experienced community as service users linked up with service workers ( who are key workers ), to fully nationalise under democratic public ownership all foster care and bring back in - house all council child care services under a National Care Service akin to the NHS 14 LACES is an initiative of individual Socialist Party care - experienced members but you don ' t need to be a member of one to be a member of the other , as long as we can find a point of unity over a socialist and anti - austerity programme 15 We reach out to and support the wider Labour movement of trade unions and service user campaign groups , everyone from ' Social Workers Against Austerity ' – ' IWGB Foster Care branch ' - Disabled People Against the Cuts ' and more , an injury to one is an injury to all ! 16 If your care - experienced join LACES today for the fightback , to fight for a society of the millions not millionaires , for care - experienced rights not profits