A woman who grew up in care says the “tragic” death of a fellow campaigner has shed light on the high number of care-experienced people dying young.
Ashley Toner lost her friend Tony McDonald, who died aged 34 in 2022, and says his death came just as he had found stability and happiness after a difficult childhood.
It comes amid mounting pressure on the Scottish Government to publish data on premature deaths among care-experienced young people.
People who grew up in care have a mortality rate around three times higher than the general population after adjusting for factors such as age, sex and deprivation, according to a study by Glasgow University.
Campaigners argue that monitoring such data will help tackle issues including drug deaths and homelessness.
In 2020, the Scottish Government launched The Promise, a pledge to improve the lives of care-experienced young people by 2030.
A five-year review by Audit Scotland found The Promise is off track, citing systemic challenges and insufficient early delivery planning by the Scottish Government and COSLA.
‘He gave so much – and then his life was taken away’
STV NewsTony entered the care system at the age of eight. He spent years battling drug addiction and time in prison before seeking rehabilitation and going on to become a youth worker.
Ashley recalled working with Tony at charity Who Cares? Scotland, travelling around Scotland to deliver talks.
It was on those trips the pair deepened their friendship, sharing experiences of growing up in the care system.
Ashley described Tony as a “beacon of light.”
“Tony had this energy and positivity. For a guy who had experienced huge trauma and disadvantage in his youth, the positivity he could still come out with was just awe-inspiring.
“He lifted everyone around him up and made everybody feel good.
“If you were really down on yourself one day and couldn’t go on, saying, ‘Why don’t I just give up?’, he was like, ‘You could give up, or you could take this step by step.’ He’d walk me through those steps.”
Ashley credits Tony with encouraging her to go back to university to study history and politics, where she achieved a First Class dissertation.
She described feeling “devastated” when she learned of his death.
“Tony deserved a better ending than he got. He was doing things that mattered. After everything, he gave of himself to the public and care-experienced community, that’s what really felt unfair.
“He had just got to the stage in life where he was happy, content, stable. It just felt like it was all taken away far too soon.”
For Ashley, Tony’s death is part of a wider pattern facing many people who have grown up in care.
Ashley TonerThose in the system are more likely to have poorer health outcomes overall. They are also over-represented in drug death figures, the prison population and people not in employment, education or training (NEET).
“A lot of kids are taken into care as babies for protection and care. They are not shown love; they are shown a system that’s cold and harsh and chucked into the world to die, to fail.”
She says the lack of progress on The Promise is a “slap in the face” to those who grew up in care.
“This is about dignity for every child in the care system as we stand here today, and those coming in behind them and all the other places. They’ll never be remembered.
“There’s so much we are not prepared for when we’re in the care system and then we’re dumped at a door and left to get on with things.
“If the Scottish Government actually truly cared about care-experienced people, they’d be tracking them from cradle to grave.”
Ashley TonerDuncan Dunlop, MSP and former head of Who Cares? Scotland, is leading the drive for the figures to be published.
He believes it would make Scotland a global leader in using data to improve the lives of care-experienced people.
“There’s nowhere else in the world that does this. We can cut through and be pioneering.
“There’s recognition across the sector that this is needed. It’s not just mortality rates. It’s about educational outcomes, employment outcomes. We can do it with the data we hold.
“The tragedy is I’ve worked with hundreds of care-experienced people. Those people who have loving relationships, they survive.
“Life is untenable for any human who has never been loved. If you don’t have that sense of belonging and purpose, what is your reason for being?
“The stark consequences can be addiction, suicide, premature death. But if we understand it, it will galvanise us to do better.”
STV NewsOfficials are looking into the costs of publishing the figures, but say it is technically feasible.
Victims minister Siobhian Brown says the government is committed to delivering on The Promise by 2030.
She acknowledged concerns from campaigners that changes aren’t being made fast enough.
“People aren’t feeling it where they need to. That’s what will make the real difference.
“I understand Duncan’s passion about this and collecting this data. I’m focused on policy at the moment, and how we can deliver it by 2030. From the care community, this isn’t something I’m hearing about expanding it through a lifetime.
“I have had conversations with some care-experienced people who feel they would feel stigmatised having it on their death certificate. Due to personal circumstances and choice, people in care might not choose to tell people that they were in care. It’s a very sensitive, complex issue.”
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