Yp in transition final (3)
- 1. Young people in transition
- 2. Action for Children •Established in 1869 •300,000 children, young people and families •650 services across the UK: • Family support services • Fostering and adoption • Disability services • Youth services • Innovation- HMP Styal
- 3. Transition A time of change, of opportunity and risks in all our lives But for vulnerable young people, too often the risk outweighs the opportunity This is demonstrated only too clearly by what young people told us in our recent work with them, ’Too Much, Too Young’
- 4. Too much, too young • After leaving care • Young people most at risk of homelessness • Barriers and enablers to building a stable home
- 5. Growing up too quickly Most vulnerable care leavers •1 in 3 care leavers cease to be looked after between 16 and 17 •49% young people (not looked after) living with parents at 20-24
- 6. Most ‘at risk’ of homelessness And poor housing over their life time •Leave care at 16 and 17 years •Young disabled people who do not meet thresholds for support •Mental health and emotional problems •Behavioural problems •Poor experience of care and trust
- 7. And those who ‘When I was 16 my dad who I had had no contact with came to get me out of care. He lived 200 miles away’ (Carl, care leaver) The absence of good quality care arrangements will lead young people to return home to unsuitable care arrangements before and after age 18 10% of care leavers live with parents and relatives
- 8. Support available for these young people •Can be looked after at 16/17 but many leave early •Disabled young people are entitled to assessment and support before 18 (Care Act 2014) •Health advice and services at transition •Housing and children’s services should theoretically work together to prevent homelessness •Staying put – remain in foster care until 21 but not in residential care
- 9. What we found • Support drops away when it is still needed ‘He had a statement and went to a Special School so one minute he is seen as a child who needs additional support and then he wakes up on his 18th birthday and he is meant to perform and function as an adult’ ‘There are unrealistic expectations that young people with high level of emotional and behavioural needs can function as ‘adults’’
- 10. •Gaps in early help and on-going support with mental health and emotional wellbeing •Practical support not enough for most vulnerable young people, although good for many •Return home not supported or properly planned for
- 11. What needs to happen
- 12. What needs to happen 1. Re-think care 1. Prioritise mental health and emotional wellbeing • Guaranteed continued access to services at 18 • Therapeutic care placements to continue into early adulthood 3. Stronger entitlement to family support 4. Must not give up
- 13. Transitions With these changes in policy and practice, we can together make transition a time of real opportunity for vulnerable young people.
Editor's Notes
- #2: The overall message is that care leavers are the clearest exemplification of vulnerable young people going through transition and needing our systems, policies and practices to improve so that we can help these young people to move to achieve and avoid unnecessary hardship and needs throughout adulthood as they have faced in childhood.
- #4: Transition from childhood to adulthood
- #5: Our research ‘Too much, too young’ looked at: young people leaving care those most at risk of homelessness what helps prevents those young becoming homeless and having poor outcomes over the long-term what can make a difference and prevent these problems At Action for children we believe in early action Which is why our research focuses on the importance of identifying problems early and what difference preventative support can make
- #6: What have we found? Young people leaving care felt that they had to grow up too quickly The most vulnerable leaving care at the youngest age and MOST likely to have outcomes like homelessness
- #7: Leave care at 16 and 17 years Young disabled people who do not meet thresholds for support Mental health and emotional problems Behavioral problems AND Young people who had a poor experience of care – for example some of the young people in out research had over 20 different foster care placements – this kind of instability means they are not prepared to be independent so young
- #8: Young people who enter care later on in their teenage years are also very vulnerable Most still in touch with their families and go back to live with them after short time in care But problems in families remain and there is not enough support for them Link between family break down and homelessness
- #9: Support available around the time of transition Strong policy framework for planning before the age of 18 for care leavers but the most vulnerable fall through the gaps For example – young people who do not meet high adult thresholds – young people who leave care younger and go off the radar – young people in residential care who do not have the right to remain there beyond the age of 18
- #10: These are the MOST vulnerable young people who have suffered abuse and neglect and very difficult relationships with their families
- #13: Re-think Care- so that support is based on needs not age and so that help is offered through the means of a professional relationship with a professional who will stay around for the young person, not only as a series of transactions about practical aspects of life such as money and housing Family Support - when young people return home after care to prevent breakdown in late childhood and early adulthood Must Not give up - when young people are at their most complex and challenging – development of new forms of stable homes for care leavers needed to help them into young adulthood . . Build on the Right to Stay, a great stride for young people to be able to stay in foster care- we now need this to apply to all young people leaving care at age 18 and to extend to at least age 25- remove the pretence that 18 is a total entrance to adulthood.