Spoof B&B Website Aims to Help Young Care Leavers

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has unveiled a spoof B&B website to highlight the terrible housing conditions facing young people leaving the care system in England.

The caign takes the form of a glossy-looking website and supports National Care Leavers' Week. At first glance, the website looks like a typical platform for booking holiday accommodation. However, the places on offer are actually a disgusting and uncomfortable looking selection of bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) which young people leaving care are placed in.

The online brochure builds on the actual experiences of care leavers. It advertises a selection of cheekily-named B&Bs, including ‘The Grim Retreat’ and ‘Mournful Inn’. The reviews for each parody include feedback like ‘Be unpleasantly surprised’ and ‘Isolation with a cold shower’. The comments are accompanied by dismal pictures of filthy rooms.

The skit site urges people to support the Barnardo’s Beyond Care caign and contact their local council to demand better conditions for the country’s care leavers. The public can bring the issue to the attention of their local councillor by simply entering their details on the site and an email will be issued to them.

Javed Khan, CEO of Barnardo’s, says: "The site is a tongue-in-cheek way of getting across a serious message about care leavers forced to live in cold, stark accommodation. The reality is that while many browse inviting websites filled with cosy and welcoming B&Bs for the perfect weekend away, our vulnerable young people have no choice but to accept the unacceptable.

“We recognise that local authorities are working with limited budgets but they need a range of ways of providing emergency accommodation. Many young people leaving care have already had horrific childhoods. We owe them a better start to adult life than this.”

Jack, an 18-year-old care leaver, had no option but to stay in a B&B for more than three months when he was 16 years old.

“When I stayed in B&B accommodation I was constantly scared and worried about what could happen to me. The B&B was above a pub so I’d have to endure extreme noise levels and drunk people banging on my door very late at night. There was no heating in the room and the TV wouldn’t work, so I quickly became very depressed and lonely.  On more than one occasion I contemplated suicide,” he said.

“Barnardo’s offered me support in the form of a mentor who was always there to chat and offer advice when I needed it most. The charity also helped me find the bedsit that I currently live in and I’m very settled there.”

To view the spoof website and help Barnardo’s improve living conditions for young people leaving care, click here.