A teenager who was taken into care at the age of three has shared his story of being "bounced around" in the care system and spending his 18th birthday in a hotel room in Enniskillen.

Paddy, a care-experienced 19-year-old, has shared his story as part of a campaign by Action for Children, urging reform of children's care services in Northern Ireland.

The charity has launched a UK-wide campaign called 'A Place to Call Home', with research in Northern Ireland highlighting the local challenges facing the record number of children currently in care - almost 4,000.

As part of the research informing the campaign, Action for Children spoke to many care-experienced young people.

Paddy, one of the care-experienced young people, said: “I was taken into care aged three. I was placed with a foster family and was eventually adopted. It was a steady environment until my adoptive dad passed away in 2019.”

Aged 14, Paddy went into residential care, moving away from the area and the people he had known for more than a decade.

After a few months, he moved again, this time to a foster family over the border.

In July this year, Paddy’s placement was due to end.

Four days before the deadline, no alternative accommodation had been found and he moved between hotels and B&Bs, during which he also lost his job.

This meant he had to apply for Universal Credit.

When he was finally allocated a flat in Enniskillen, he had no money to support himself because of the five-week wait to receive his first Universal Credit payment.

Paddy said: “You could have a million [housing] points but there’s no houses. The Housing Executive will put you anywhere, even up in Belfast.

“I spent my 18th birthday in a hotel room in Enniskillen. There’s nowhere to cook in a hotel room and takeaways are so expensive. The week I spent there was so depressing.

“This year was my third time being classed as homeless. I’ve been messed about so many times and I know the system very well. Even when you get a flat you don’t get anything much in it.

“The Action for Children Crisis Fund was a big help. I got £100 of electric in July and I have about half of it left. But the flat has Economy 7 heating and one-hour costs about £6. Most of the time my fridge is empty.

“You’re just sitting in the house, cold and depressed.”

When asked how the system could be better, he said more funding and more houses earmarked for care-experienced young people.

Despite the challenges he has faced, Paddy has just started a full-time apprenticeship course to become a mechanic.

He said: "I’m very independent and I’d rather be doing something than sitting around all day watching TV.

"But it’s hard. My last night out was about three or four months ago because I just can’t afford it.

"I’ve been in the system since I was three years old and it seems to be getting worse, not better.

"But I’m moving forward. I don’t want to be on benefits all my life."

Sheena McMullen, Campaigns, Advocacy and Policy Advisor at Action for Children, said: “Every young person in Northern Ireland deserves to have a safe, stable and loving place to call home and the chance to build the skills they need to thrive.”

In February 2022, the then Health Minister Robin Swann commissioned a review of children’s social care services in Northern Ireland.

After more than a year of gathering evidence, in June 2023 the review gave 53 recommendations to the Department of Health.

It found that compared with the rest of the UK and Ireland, children’s services in Northern Ireland were dealing with higher referral rates, higher rates of children in need, and children with child protection plans.

The rate of children in care increased more rapidly in Northern Ireland in the last decade compared to other places in the UK and Ireland.

It also noted that staff vacancies and workforce challenges are a serious problem.

Lorna Ballard, director for Action for Children in Northern Ireland, said: "It’s clear that children’s social care needs urgent reform.

"But despite the scale of the problems, progress has been alarmingly slow - further disrupted by the UK general election followed by the summer recess.

"A lot of work is going on behind the scenes but the new health minister hasn’t yet made any firm commitments to some of the key proposed reforms – like a new regional children and families’ arms-length body.

"That’s despite clear majority support for the recommendation in the public consultation responses.

"We hope for an announcement from the Health Minister soon and, in the meantime, we’ll continue to push for change as part of the Reimagine Children’s Collective - a coalition of voluntary children and young people’s service providers operating across Northern Ireland in social care delivery."