The new rights for children in care which come into force this month are ground-breaking.

The fact that children who turn 16 in residential care, foster or kinship care are now entitled to stay there until they are 21, and services obliged to support them until they turn 26 will undoubtedly change lives.

The campaign which achieved it, led by Who Cares? Scotland and other charities has been rightly acclaimed, not least by the Herald's own Society Awards.

But any right for children in care to make greater demands on their so-called corporate parents will make a limited difference, if they don't know to claim it.

A survey Who Cares? has highlighted this, not least for the opaque term 'corporate parents'.

This refers to the fact that when children are taken into state care, the institutions of the state become, in part, their family.

New duties for corporate parents are part of the Children and Young People Act which came into effect on April 1st and the Fire Service, SportScotland and colleges are among 24 such bodies who must now consider themselves responsible for looked after children.

Yet barely one third of young people questioned were confident of what a corporate parent is. Meanwhile 80% said they did not understand the new duties in the Act and what they meant for young people growing up in care.

One fascinating finding from research is simply about the need to involve young people in discussions about what happens when they leave care. A previous survey found fewer than half of such young people felt they had been listened to at all about this.

Those who were not listened to were much more likely to prefer the idea of living with their birth family. Those who had been, tended to prefer to live with others, suggesting, according to Who Cares, that given few options, young people are likely to stick with what they know, even if it is potentially unsuitable.

The focus undoubtedly now moves to putting the new commitments to care leavers into practice, and that is not always easy. Relationships, loving ones, are key to a successful care experience, Who Cares? says, which poses challenges for services and the workers. Young people want positive relationships with the workers and carers in their lives, that are genuine and not time limited.

"We shouldn't be afraid of love within a care setting - this is their home and its where to grow up, so why shouldn't they feel love from those caring for them?" asks senior policy officer Carly Edgar.