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Moving on from Care Into Adulthood consultation: Gathering the voices of people with lived care experience
The Scottish Government recently invited views on the support needed by young people leaving care and entering adulthood as part of the ’Moving On’ From Care Into Adulthood public consultation.
As Scotland’s mentoring programme for children and young people with experience of care, we are in a unique position to gather insights from those with lived experience.
We held in-depth interviews with:
- young people mentored by intandem and approaching the stage of moving on from care into adulthood,
- young adults who are volunteer mentors with intandem and have their own lived experience of moving on from care into adulthood,
- kinship carers supported by intandem, and
- staff of intandem partner organisations who work directly with young people and families.
Key insights – good practice
It was clear good practice does exist and for some young people the transition from care to adulthood is well planned and supported. Young adults with lived experience of moving on from care spoke of Throughcare workers and Aftercare workers helping them to access information, entitlements, support and housing.
One young adult commented on her experience of finding a house “my Throughcare worker fought for a particular area for me due to my mental health and good support network in that area. They tried to give me a house in a different area but it wouldn’t have been good. I’ve got a house in that area now and it’s worked out well because I know people, it’s better for my anxiety and stress.”
A professional mentioned that Shelter is good at linking in to help young people transition. However, they also highlighted this requires an adult or support worker to facilitate the process. While this works if you are living in residential care with support workers available, for those in different forms of care such as at home or in kinship care this could be more difficult.
Key insights – where more support is needed
From those consulted it was evident more support is needed to ensure ALL young people have a positive experience of moving on from care. The perception that not all forms of care had access to the same planning, advice and resources was evident. It was felt this results in young people slipping through the net, particularly those in kinship care or living at home on a CSO.
Information isn’t always readily available for young people, and it seems to be missing at this vital time in their life. There appears to be an assumption that all parents and kinship carers are able to support young people with the transition to adulthood however this is definitely not the case.
One professional commented “some kinship carers are struggling to cope and are focused on surviving day-to-day. They don’t have the information or capacity to help a young person prepare for moving on from care into adulthood.”
Everyone consulted commented that school and Link Workers should have a positive part to play in preparing young people for the life skills needed in adulthood. There was also unanimous agreement that peer support was a good idea for young people moving on from care.
Professionals felt it important there was support available long term for people with care experience. One commented “often young people are desperate to be out of the care system, it often hasn’t been a positive experience for them. But they should have the option to link back in at a point when they realise they need it. Information provision is key.”
Young people agreed that information was key to a successful transition with discussion around a tailored information pack, website and helpline.
Housing
An area of particular concern for everyone consulted was the challenges around lack of information about housing options for young people moving on from care, the long timescale required to apply for housing and be successful, the availability of suitable housing, and the risk of ending up in homeless accommodation.
A young adult shared he had ended up in homeless accommodation when he couldn’t stay at home any longer and had to move quickly. It was a frightening experience as a teenager with exposure to violence and addictions.
Another young adult shared having to be on the list for social housing for two years before she was able to get an offer of a house. She said young people need to get on the list early because it takes so long.
A professional confirmed this by highlighting “there isn’t enough social housing for young people, particularly in their local area where they have a network of support. We’re setting them up to fail right away with isolating them from their local community.”
A kinship carer we spoke to commented “the default option for young people leaving care shouldn’t be to access social housing, I don’t think it should be encouraged. It would be better to have a system where you are supported to stay where you are until you are able to afford rent or to buy.”
In general, more information is needed, more time to plan, and more suitable accommodation options for care leavers. A preference suggested by various young people, young adults and professionals was the introduction of dedicated housing for care leavers to avoid them ending up in homeless accommodation which can be a very unsafe environment.
Conclusion
Our consultation response covered many aspects of the support needed by young people moving on from care. The importance of lifelong links with workers, the need for improved support around employment, health and wellbeing and access to information are all covered.
A young adult commented “When you leave care you don’t want everything done for you but you don’t know how to do anything!”.
We need to give young people the necessary skills and support for moving into adulthood to ensure they thrive.
Read the full response here.
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