Planning and preparation for moving on from care into adulthood
1. How can we ensure that young people, and those who support them, are given enough time, advice and resources to effectively prepare them for moving on from care?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
This has to be designed bespoke for each individual young person.
Some young people will not be ready to leave care, despite their chronological age, as a result of the impact on them of early childhood experiences. Consequently, the support offered to them may look a lot like being ‘in care’.
Some young people may feel they are ready to live with a high degree of independence. Down the line, they may realise that they are not ready and should be able to pick by up on the support they may previously have declined.
Some young people will not be ready to leave care, despite their chronological age, as a result of the impact on them of early childhood experiences. Consequently, the support offered to them may look a lot like being ‘in care’.
Some young people may feel they are ready to live with a high degree of independence. Down the line, they may realise that they are not ready and should be able to pick by up on the support they may previously have declined.
2. Are there any barriers to starting the process of planning and preparing for young people leaving care at an early stage?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Yes. A young person should be able to choose who is the best adult to lead the support for them in this planning and preparation. This will be someone they have grown to trust, who they believe understands them and is on their side. For many young people, this may be their foster carer, or perhaps, their foster carer’s supervising social worker. The idea of introducing a new stranger to the young person, in the shape of a pathway coordinator, does not make sense in the context of key relationships.
Accessing information, services and support
3. How can we ensure young people receive the right support and guidance to build the life skills they need for adulthood before they move on from care?
Please provide suggestions in the open text box.
This is not something that should only happen in the leaving care. It is the role of care givers to support the young persons to grow in their independence, but, crucially, in a way and over a time period that is right for each individual young person. So, this should be part of care planning and placement plans right through adolescence.
4. What services and support should be considered and provided to a care leaver who returns home to live with their birth family?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
The option to check back in with their foster carer or children’s home. And for their former foster carer or children’s home worker to check back in with them. Care should be lifelong and be centred on the positive relationships that a young person develops whilst in care.
6. How do we ensure that young people with care experience, and those who provide them with care, can easily access information about entitlements and support?
Please provide any examples of good practice you are aware of in the open text box.
By ensuring that the trusted adults around them - foster carers etc. - have current information at hand that they can bring to the young person attention and encourage/support them to follow up.
Continuing Care
7. Are there any changes you would like to see as part of the eligibility criteria for Continuing Care?
Please provide details of your suggestions in the open text box.
It should only be on rare occasions that a 16/17 year leaves care to move to Continuing Care. It must be clear why this is a better option for that young person than staying in care until 18.
8. What additional support do you think is required for families, professionals and practitioners who are responsible for providing Continuing Care arrangements?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Funding for young people to continue to live with their former foster carers is insufficient. As well as finance for the foster carer to earn a living, the support the young person needs (e.g. emotional, mental health) does not stop when they turn 18. Funding should be provided for this to continue on for so long as the young person needs - this is what a parent would do.
9. How do we ensure that young people, and their views, are heard during discussions on Continuing Care which impact them?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Empower them to choose who leads on consulting with them and who directly supports them to have their views heard. This may be their foster carer, the foster carer’s supervising social worker or an independent advocate.
Provide feedback along the lines of ‘you said, we did’.
Provide feedback along the lines of ‘you said, we did’.
Aftercare
10. How can we make sure young people can access the range of support they need when they leave care through the provision of Aftercare?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Support the adults who they young person has identified as their key, trusted person, to check back in regularly with the young person. This person can then inform, support and advocate.
Lifelong Care
13. What do you think would be the best way to provide long term support and services to adults with care experience?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
As with my previous answers, by having their trusted person maintain a lifelong connection with them - that is what families do. When we make a connection with a young person in care because we are playing a professional role in their life, we have an obligation to stick with them.
14. What do you think the challenges would be in providing support and services to adults with care experience?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Losing touch, so that they feel isolated and too ashamed to seek support.
Support for unaccompanied asylum seeking young people leaving care
20. What supports and/or improvements do you think could be implemented to ensure we meet the particular needs of unaccompanied asylum seeking young people transitioning out of care in Scotland?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Ensure joined up adult social care, housing and health service planning.
Support for disabled young people leaving care
22. What improvements do you think could be made to ensure disabled young people leaving care have the support they need when they make the transition into adulthood?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Identify when this happens on an individual basis for each young person.
Peer support and maintaining lifelong links
26. In what ways would you like to see peer support used by people leaving care and/or caregivers during a young person’s transition from care into adulthood?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Invite young people to choose who in their life is important to them and support these connections.
Health and wellbeing
30. What improvements do you think could be made to ensure care leavers have access to services which support their physical health, and mental health and wellbeing?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Priority in receiving mental health support.
31. What improvements do you think could be made to ensure a smooth transition is made between children and adult physical health services, mental health services and wellbeing services?
Please explain your answer in the open text box.
Shared information, rather than a young person have to start from scratch with adult services needs assessments.
Further and Higher education
37. In what areas would you like to see improvements to the service, support and funding for students who are care experienced?
Please explain your answer and provide any suggestions in the open text box.
A wider window of age at which FE and HE can be accessed. Chronological age is not a reliable indicator of readiness for a young care-experienced person.
38. How can we better support care experienced students to complete their studies?
Please explain your answer and provide any examples of good practice in the open text box.
52 week accommodation offer.
Employment
39. What would help young people with care experience find secure and fulfilling work, develop their skills or build their confidence?
Please provide examples in the open text box.
Preferential public sector apprenticeships across local government and NHS.
About you
42. What is your name?
Name
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43. Are you responding as an individual or an organisation?
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Individual
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Organisation
44. What is your organisation?
Organisation
Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers