'Being in care should be protected by law like race and sex'

Rebecca (left) and Fay have been working on a campaign to make being in care a protected characteristic

A group of people who have been in care want to make it illegal to discriminate against them.

They want to make experience of the care system a protected characteristic like disability, race and sexual orientation.

More than 30 councils across England and Scotland have made the change - but the group want it to be the law so are taking a petition to Downing Street.

Discrimination is something Fay, 17, says she's experienced.

She was in care growing up and says she came across it when applying for a job at a factory.

"The woman that was interviewing me actually even said to me 'look, you're a good candidate'," she tells Newsbeat.

"But then she started asking me personal questions which I wasn't bothered about like where I live.

"I brought up the fact that I was in care and things like that, living in care homes.

"And from that she just went quite cold with the interview and she just did not want to engage after that."

Fay says she later found out on the same day that she didn't get the job.

"I knew straight away that it was from saying that I was in care," she says.

Fay says she's experienced discrimination due to being in care

Fay is handing in the petition to Number 10 later as part of a group led by campaigner Terry Galloway.

They want the Equality Act 2010 to also treat care experience as a protected characteristic so it becomes the law to consider the discrimination faced by those people when making new policies.

And one of things Fay wants to change is some of the preconceptions about people who are in care.

"We're still the exact same, we don't change because we've gone into care," she says.

"We're not all naughty kids. A lot of kids that you do meet in care just want friends and things like that.

"There's a lot of stereotypes, people think that when you grow up in care you have no relationship with your parents.

"Most of the time people don't, but I've got an absolutely amazing relationship with my grandma."

Rebecca says she feels proud to have worked on the campaign

Like Fay, 18-year-old Rebecca lives in Doncaster where the council has already made being in care a protected characteristic.

She's being working on the petition which she hopes will have a wider impact and change attitudes to how people are treated at school.

"We still deserve an education. But bullying just makes you think 'I don't want to go'," she says.

"I want it to be different where you don't feel a judgement going to school, or you say 'I don't want to go to school today because they'll say this'."

Rebecca also says she feels proud to have worked on the campaign.

"You don't know who you're helping, but you know that they really probably needed it."

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