'Moving on' from care into adulthood consultation

Most importantly in this regard, we need to ensure that individual children and young people’s needs, wants and hopes are understood by staff who are able to support those ambitions. Resultantly, we also need to have enough staff with the time and resources to support these young people with an understanding of eligibility, entitlement and statutory responsibilities.

There is a lack of long-term planning and capacity within services to support young people to stay in placements until they are ready to move on meaning young people move on before they are ready.

Building life skills needs to be less about the need to move on, and more about lifelong learning irrespective of what stage of a move-on process the young person is at. By supporting this development at much earlier stages, it is less likely that young people will feel pressured to move on before they feel they have the skills to live independently. In Stirling, our Champs Board have delivered extensive work around tenancy sustainability and developing life skills through their “pre-tenancy preparation” which develops skills before young people are ready to embark on qualifications such as the SQA Tenancy Skills Award.

Ultimately the services and support that a young person should be offered will be very individual to the age, needs and care journey of each child. A 16-year-old returning home following discussion with their carers and Social Work staff because a parent has recovered from addiction will require very different support from a young person at 24 and returning home after finishing university.
In Stirling where this has happened we have looked to support the child/young person and family to manage expectations when they return to the family home and maintain important relationships throughout a period of transition. The young person will have an allocated worker from the Continuing Care and Aftercare team to help them navigate these changes. At times some financial support to the family is provided depending on the assessed eligible needs to ensure material needs are covered and that financial strain doesn’t become a reason cited in further breakdown of living circumstances.

A young person on a Permanence Order residing with enhanced Foster Carers having moved from a Residential Provision made the decision to return home to reside with his birth parent. Both the young person and the birth parent were consulted as part of the transition planning alongside dedicated Social Workers from a locality perspective and the Continuing Care and After Care Team. This was in recognition of the need for support to build the relationship and support parenting capacity as well as understanding of each other's needs and expectations. Functional Family Therapy was provided as part of the transition plan as well as some financial support to ensure this does not become a barrier to the return home being a success. The young person was involved with Stirling Champions Board and engaged with the SQAs Tenancy Awards as well as linking in with a careers advisor and continues to do well.

Another young person who was residing in supported accommodation before returning to live with their birth parent received intensive support from a Young Person Support Worker 3x a week providing activities and opportunities to be outwith the family home. The allocated Social Worker supported the birth parent to navigate the return, support relationships and parenting. In recognition that the young person has been outwith the care of their parent for a significant period and is now a young adult with different needs, staff have engaged in regular support bringing both together to rebuild the young person's relationship with their birth parent and sibling. Regular financial support was provided again to ensure that this did not impact on the young person's ability to remain within the placement due to any financial pressures. The young person has now moved on to independence and is being supported to manage their own tenancy and remain intensively supported by his support worker who they have a very good relationship with.

Staff and young people need to have access to information via the internet that is updated regularly with information from a range of resources. Many children and young people – and carers – prefer to access support via staff they have a trusted relationship with and easily accessible online information allows for this. Ensuring staff have proper understanding of eligibility is crucial.
On the other hand, dedicated child friendly resources are important for children and young people and promotes empowerment and allows for independent access. However, information provided online is often out of date, inaccurate or does not contain all the necessary information to determine eligibility leading to issues between staff and young people.
Both resources are important to ensure young people have access to the appropriate information.

There is not necessarily a need for specific changes to eligibility for Continuing Care. However, a number of points related to this are covered within question 8. Generally, there is a need to support young people at an earlier stage whilst ensuring those supporting are clear around eligibility, rights and entitlements and that young people are supported at the earliest opportunity to understand this and make informed decisions about next steps. There is also a need for more joined up working alongside Kinship/Foster Carers to support young people to develop skills and readiness for independence following moving on post 21.

Greater advice and support at earlier stages would enable families to have a greater understanding of their eligibility and also responsibility and crucially when this comes to an end or changes. Continuing Care has enabled many arrangements to last much longer than they would have previously but for many it has only shifted the financial cliff edge from 18 to 21. Likewise, greater understanding of, and support for the growth of, Aftercare would be welcome for many families.

Young people’s views are represented in formal and informal meetings as well as in service design through regular contact with staff and through more developed sessions via the Champs Board and with engagement staff. Crucially, these discussions must pre-date them entering Continuing Care with discussion around responsibilities and eligibility and rights. Guidance frames discussion on the suitability of Continuing Care around the determination of “significantly adversely affect[ing] the welfare of the young person” which is unlikely in the majority of cases. Nevertheless, in assessing the suitability of a placement, young people should be able to share their views on their wider living arrangements and their aspirations for their future which will influence the appropriateness of a continuing care placement more generally.

Having a dedicated staff team for Continuing Care and Aftercare, where young people accessing Aftercare have an allocated Aftercare worker ensures support can continue as older young people grow up. In terms of approach, it is essential to operate on the basis of “No wrong door” whereby care experienced young people are supported to access what they are entitled to irrespective of whether they get in touch with health, housing, Social Work etc. Within Stirling we have worked hard to maintain support for young people up to the age of 26 where they have previously not accessed or have withdrawn from services again reinforcing the “No wrong door” approach allowing people to leave and subsequently come back.

As a service, we have mixed views on this as it is felt that the distinction between Looked After at Home and Looked After and Accommodated is appropriate. However, our dedicated Continuing Care and Aftercare Team are able to offer the same level of support, advice and guidance regardless of legal status (albeit not financial for those not eligible). The distinction out with financial eligibility is essentially invisible in regards how we are supporting our YP.
This links back to question 7 and 8, in that if earlier discussions were robust and took place more generally about young people's rights, eligibility and entitlements, it would prevent some young people slipping through the cracks in regards to orders being terminated resulting in subsequent ineligibility due to not being looked after at 16. There needs to be greater recognition that a lot of young people are not ready for independence at 16 and would benefit from the opportunity of Continuing Care and/or Aftercare support, advice and guidance preparing them for moving on at a time where they are ready.
We do have young people who are supported on a discretionary basis due to their presenting needs, some of which are greater due to limited support networks, family etc. This can become challenging due to an inability to offer the same financial support and opportunities (e.g. Housing options) which leaves some of our already vulnerable young people even more vulnerable. We recognise the financial restraints and resource implications for the service should the eligibility change and understand the current rationale for eligibility of aftercare. As per the above, the issue arises more for those young people who have been looked after for a number of years and had extensive Social Work and multi- agency intervention. However, due to not being looked after at 16 means they are not eligible for support.

Finance and lack of resources remains the key limit on enhancing eligibility for a number of aspects of statutory and discretionary care, particularly at a time when public finance is under significant, and growing pressure. Another challenge in changing eligibility is that it creates confusions. We have fed back in previous consultation responses related to those moving on from care, that we need to simplify and align eligibility criteria, as it is currently too muddled and this makes it difficult for practitioners and children and families alike. An unintended consequence of this is that changes in one area are likely to have an impact on other services which use this criterion for their own means, for example in accessing discretionary or tertiary health and wellbeing services.

The extension of the Aftercare provision has allowed for prolonged contact between young adults and those who have supported them out of care and into early adult life. Some young people continue to informally seek out this support from the service and their individual worker beyond the duration of this formal support.
Helping young adults as they transition into independence, encouraging natural and healthy networks of support, can assist them in addressing any isolation or loneliness, however they can require additional supports beyond the length of their Aftercare entitlement. Often these young adults do not meet the criteria for allocation of support from statutory Adult Social Work services, and can feel as if they fall through the gaps. Flexibility within this criteria and additional resource to respond to increased needs could assist in this area.

Adults with experience of care are not a homogenous group by any means. Historic involvement with services and prior negative experiences can act as a barrier for adults wanting to get support or whether they can access support from the right person. In delivering aftercare support we intend to offer a ‘no wrong door approach’ but when adults don’t feel comfortable opening any door, this is obviously made more difficult. Likewise, the stigma of growing up in care leads many young adults to resent being labelled as care experienced and means they will not access support they are entitled to. In seeking to overcome these barriers, we need to speak to those with those with lived experience of growing up in care. Are there forums where these voices are easily accessible as young adults get older and how do we engage those who withdraw from support they are entitled to?

There needs to be a greater suite of “step-down” opportunities that are available locally and closer to communities. This is particularly important when we consider the ethos of the Children’s Care and Justice Act and the need to better support children and young people within their communities and in more trauma responsive services. Sending adolescents halfway across the country to Young Offender’s Institutions is no longer seen as acceptable in the eyes of the law, so why is it any different for secure care or for step-down support? Likewise cross-border placements in secure care are rightly being considered but often people within Scotland are having to travel just as far to access residential accommodation that fully meets their needs.

It is hoped that the Care and Justice Act will support the equitable application of the Secure Care Pathway and Standards across Scotland. Crucially in this regard, it is our view that this responsibility should be shared with secure care providers and not just local authorities.

Adopting a Whole Systems Approach should address some of these challenges recognising the significant risk associated with this transition point. However, it is our experience that the efficacy of this approach is largely dependent on local support and personal relationships between staff working in partner agencies. There are challenges across all public sector agencies and this can lead to heightened staff turnover which jeopardises this approach.
In Stirling Social Work, Housing, Health and Education colleagues continue to work together to develop links with community-based supports when our children and young people are detained, in order to plan for a successful reintegration to the community. We understand that our young people often struggle when they return as a result of financial challenges and can be anxious about how they can sustain any changes. We look to ensure young people are supported in the initial stages, supported to access longer term finance and/or training and employability, in order to help young people feel purposeful and reduce the risk of re-offending.

As with secure care settings, there shouldn’t be a distinction between where people have been in prison and the extent to which they can access trauma responsive services. Prisons need to be part of the delivery of this and take on more responsibility around providing aftercare support services. We would hope that the thematic review of prison based social work will help to further embed the relationship between prison-based social work services and community support services.

On the whole, there is good collaboration with Guardianship services and housing support staff while young people are still 'looked after' but in a service more akin to that of a care leaver. So far, young people who have stayed local after gaining leave to remain have been well supported and are in education, training or employment and have remained in housing support or have activated local housing protocol. Those who have links with host families have also benefited from supportive, enduring relationships. Young people who have left the area have largely disengaged from our service, though two have sought to return with one having significant legal uncertainty due to failure to comply with immigration and criminal legislation. This led to lack of clarity about responsibility. Continuing uncertainty about how to support Appeal Rights Exhausted young people who are also care leavers has proved challenging.

The speed of decision making from the Home Office which dictates support available to eligible young people needs to be improved. Far too many young people are being supported in a sort of ‘limbo’ position which means services are not fully able to support the particular long-term needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people. In addition to the challenges associated with a lack of clear leave to remain, it is also difficult to support those with no recourse to public funds as these young people are no less in need, but have substantially fewer rights with regards to accessing support. On the flip side, the finance associated with the growing group of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people is significant, and pressure on resources, particularly in accommodation, is increasing.

We have worked to develop transitions guidance through close working relationships with adult care services and via regular care planning we utilise these relationships to identify support before they are ready to move on. Regular meetings are held to discuss children's care plans and to identify any challenges in moving on into adult services. There needs to be open and honest transparency in the difference in services provided by children’s vs adult services in order to manage the expectations of parents and/or carers.

There are significant challenges associated with delivering care packages to young people with disabilities, particularly at the point of transition where eligibility criteria changes. Even where young people have been assessed as being entitled to support, there is often a lack of capacity to deliver this. Wider routes of access for support would help to alleviate some of this pressure, as would greater flexibility in accessing mainstream support.

Within Stirling, the Family Nurse Partnership delivers significant support for expectant families where parents have a history of care experience. However, the eligibility criteria for this support are limited in comparison to other aftercare support programmes and in particular when we know about the long-term impact of growing up in care. While we acknowledge that parents who have grown up in care are likely to face additional challenges in raising their own children, we seek to offer guidance/support without prejudging the need for significant intervention. Where possible, we seek to provide support through existing relationships and suggest this model, if expanded, could improve outcomes for young parents with care experience.

Staff need to be able to access trauma informed and responsive training where parents are seen as partners and supported to maintain family relationships rather than stereotyped and assumed incapable of supporting their children without Social Work involvement. Training resolves aspects of this, but fundamentally it relies on relationship-based practice where staff feel able to get to know families on a deeper level.

Streamlining of eligibility between services would enable greater wraparound support from a range of different areas.

Peer support ultimately needs to be determined by the young people themselves to determine what is needed, what is available and what works for them. Nevertheless, we have seen the benefit of bringing young people together to share their experiences – particularly for this older cohort of children with care experience. Within Stirling, the Champs Board deliver a range of opportunities for peer support and lead this themselves with support from the local authority and other partners.

As above, Stirling Champs Board has had a significant positive impact on Stirling’s care experienced young people and they have told us this in a range of forums. In the last year we have re-established more formal meetings of the Champs Board to further develop co-design opportunities for the Service, but the group has been delivering informal peer support opportunities for over 5 years to great success.

If there is a demand for this, we need to enable workers and carers to maintain relationships where possible and encourage them to support the re-establishment of relationships where things may have previously broken down. However, existing regulations rightly designed to protect young people and staff alike, often make people apprehensive about the appropriateness of this. Nevertheless, locally we have enabled positive practice in this area, for example our Glasgow Road Supported Housing Service continue to deliver outreach support to young people that goes beyond any statutory responsibility.

The majority of support services operate on a 9-5 schedule, but we know that this is not appropriate for the vast majority of children and young people when it comes to emergencies. Often out of hours support results in signposting to advice services with challenging eligibility criteria. Ideally, out of hours support should be person centred and, where possible and appropriate, face to face.

It is important to ensure that care leavers are registered with appropriate services prior to leaving care as it is often more difficult to do this when there is less contact with individuals. In addition, we think there would be a significant benefit to widening entitlement to tertiary services which promote health and wellbeing. Whilst requiring an initial investment, the long-term savings associated with reduced need for acute services is substantial.

As above, we need greater dialogue between children’s and adult services and greater streamlining of eligibility criteria to avoid cliff edges and a drop off in the accessibility of support.

Within Stirling, our Youth Housing Liaison Group is designed to discuss circumstances for individual young people who are stating that they are ready to move on from care. Young People can make an application to housing at any point, however this group is an opportunity to allocate additional housing points to the young person where services are confident that a young person is likely to be able to sustain a tenancy. This group has a number of key partners around the table who could offer a young person additional input prior to securing a tenancy, which can often make the biggest difference in their chances of sustainability. Where young people are not demonstrating tenancy ready skills the additional supports remain available whilst they are in care or supported accommodation, with trusted adults explaining to young people the risks of allocating a tenancy too early.

As with all young people at the moment, the biggest barrier is the lack of suitable housing stock. Within Stirling, Social Work and Housing have very positive working relationships and this environment helps to support the tenancies of those young people with care experience. However, this working relationship still relies on the availability of housing which unfortunately remains largely outwith our control.

Stirling Champions Board and partners have worked to deliver the SQA Tenancy Skills Award to care experienced young people and this has had significant success. In addition to this, we also work to provide more general life skills support such as cooking and cleaning so that young people feel more capable of managing on their own. Most importantly, in seeking to replicate the experience of many young people with no care experience, we seek to provide reassurance to young people that they will be able to access advice and guidance that helps to alleviate some of the stress and anxiety associated with moving on from care.

The pre-tenancy support that we have already discussed would enable young people to feel confident in the skills they have and helps to promote independence whilst young people remain in care and have a safety net in place that encourages them to learn from their mistakes. In the current financial climate, there is no denying however that money remains one of the primary barriers to independent living for children and young people with care experience. Financial support provided under Section 29 for example, allows young people to make their homes more comfortable encouraging them to stay there for longer. Further measures such as having a named allocated housing officer who understands what it means to be care experienced can further support those leaving care.

We need to start planning at an earlier stage and listen to young people directly about their aspirations for the future, whether this includes starting a family or moving elsewhere for further or higher education. In enabling staff to embed relationship-based practice, the views and needs of those leaving care should be well understood. Crucially, this understanding needs to be backed up by resources that can facilitate the delivery of what is required. Too often the views of young people are gathered without consideration for the lack of resources which ultimately has a significant impact on decision-making.

There is a need for greater clarity and uniformity around eligibility for support. Much of what is provided to students is discretionary and therefore has different criteria which can lead to a more confusing landscape when accessing tertiary services in university for example. In aligning eligibility, it cannot however be a race to the bottom.

In much the same way as we support care experienced students while they are at school by enabling flexibility and a trauma informed and responsive approach to working with young people. We also need to enhance the range of post-school opportunities that are more suited to a wider range of young people recognising the varied skillset of care experienced young people. Finally, in expanding support beyond age 26 we could better support care experienced students, recognising that for many, it is not feasible to complete their studies in that time for a range of reasons.

As above, we need to expand the range of pathways into long-term work via education and apprenticeships. We should look to further develop and enhance mentoring schemes with a range of employers seeking to support young people with a range of interests. Mentoring schemes and focused preparation for work or for interviews, including access to clothes, can support young people to develop practical skills and confidence whilst schemes such as guaranteed interviews and trauma informed HR policies can further embed this in the long term.

Progressive Pathways programme: This programme provided work experience, self-confidence mentoring and ready for work skills. 2 young people attended this course and benefited greatly from the experience. They have enhanced their skills and developed new skills and built their confidence in applying for employment and or training. Positive feedback provided by both young people who attended leaving the course feeling motivated and ready to begin their search for employment.
InspiRide (Recyke a Bike) bespoke vocational training programmes. Within this program the focus is on the participants gaining skills in bike mechanics and bike building (including getting their Entry Level 3 City&Guilds certification), cycling skills (road and mountain biking), employability skills, interview preparation, volunteering, team building and more. The course runs part time (Monday to Thursday) for 6 weeks and young people received and provided excellent feedback leaving the course with more confidence, feeling good about their next steps in terms of accessing employment or further training.

In providing training and mentoring to employers and HR departments we can encourage companies and businesses to recruit and retain staff recognising the wider societal benefit that this brings. Local authorities and other public sector agencies already have a strong track record of this in-house but need to do more to show external businesses of the benefit of recruiting those with a diverse range of experiences.