Children leaving care
Questions on this page:
What help does your local authority have to give you when you are leaving care?
What is a ‘pathway plan’ and when do you have to have one?
What is a ‘personal advisor’ and when can you get one?
What help does your local authority have to give you when you are leaving care?
Once you reach 16 (or are older and are no longer looked after by the local authority, but have been in the past), the local authority ought to assess you to work out what support you will need when you leave care. Most people leave care when they are 18.
The assessment should look at lots of different things including:
• What you need to make sure you are healthy
• Any help that you will need financially
• How they can support you while you study, do training or find a job
• If you have the skills that you need in order to live on your own
• If you need help finding or paying for accommodation
• Any other support that you might need to achieve your goals
What is a ‘pathway plan’ and when do you have to have one?
After you have had an assessment of your needs, the local authority must write a plan saying how they are going to help you while you are in care and after you leave care. This plan is called a ‘pathway plan.’
The pathway plan is an agreement between you and the local authority about what should happen in the future. It will include plans for your education, training, employment, when you will leave care and where you will live once you leave care. It is important that during this meeting you really explain what it is that you think you will need to achieve your goals – it might be helpful to have an advocate there to help you to explain what your goals are.
What is a ‘personal advisor’ and when can you get one?
You should be given a personal advisor before you have your needs assessment. They should be involved in your assessment of needs and help when your pathway plan is put together. They should also be there for any reviews of your pathway plan.
They are there to give you advice and support and to make sure that your pathway plan is followed.
What can you do if you are not getting the help that you need from your local authority after you have left care?
The first thing to do is to explain the problem to your personal advisor and they should be able to make sure that you start getting the help that you need.
If the problem doesn’t get fixed, then you should make a formal complaint to the local authority responsible for your care.
There are lots of other people that you can contact if you still don’t get the help that you need:
Call the Child Law Advice Line on 08088 020 008 to speak to someone about how you can get the help that you need.
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