The Leaving Care team provide a comprehensive Leaving Care Service for young people 16+ up to the age of 25 including asylum seekers. The team works jointly with the young people to assist them in gaining the skills required for living independently.

Leaving Care is all about being independent and making your own choices about the future. This can mean getting ready to start work, finding out about training and finding somewhere to live. To provide a comprehensive leaving care service for young people 16+ up to the age of 25 including asylum seekers.

What is a Pathway Plan?

A pathway plan says what you want for your future, and we record what you want to do and how we will work together to help you succeed. It includes things like:-

• Education, training, employment and career planning
• Health and development
• Contact with parents, wider family and friends
• Financial support

We will also think about what money you may need for things like:-

• Travel
• Equipment or other things for school or college
• Clothing
• Contact with your family or friends
• Hobbies and holiday
• Costs for any special needs
• Counselling
• Cultural or religious needs

You may not get money for all these things, and you might need other things that are not on the list. We will work out the best way to help you and agree with you what we can do. This will be written in your Pathway Plan.

How often does the plan get reviewed?

Every six months a Review meeting will be held to look at the plan and see if it is offering you the support that you want and need.

How will I get my money?

We will help you to set up a bank account and learn how to run it. It is important that you learn how to manage your money and make sure it covers all the things you need. In some cases we will pay you in cash, but we want to help you learn the skills you need to manage this yourself.

What is personal support?

Personal support is all about who can offer you help, and how and when you will get the help you need. This means making plans for keeping in touch with the people you care about and who care about you, and making sure you know how to get in touch with a doctor, dentist and help in an emergency.

What happens when I am 18?

A Care Order automatically ends when you reach 18 years of age. You will not have to return to the court for this to happen. You should stay in care until you are 18 unless you are very sure that you don’t want this kind of help and support. From the age of 18 you will still have your Pathway Plan and a Personal Advisor and Children’s Services will still keep in touch with you until you are 21.

From 18 you can claim benefits and the Council will no longer give you most of your money. We will still help you in ways that we both agree to. If you are over 19 and in education, training or work we will still help you. This might mean buying books, equipment or clothing or helping with field trips, travel costs and college registration and exam fees, childcare costs or tuition feeds. We can give you this kind of support until you are 21 or older, it just depends what’s agreed in your Pathway Plan.

Can I go to college or university?

If you go to university, you will get money through the same system of student loans as everyone else, but we will make sure you have somewhere to stay in the holidays if you need it.

Some further education college courses involving things like agriculture or art may involve living near a college or living there for part of the course. Again we will make sure you have somewhere to live during the holidays.

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