Leaving care

"Children Schools and Families" has a responsibility to assist you and to support you in preparing for leaving care.  “The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000” is intended to make sure that young people leave care when they are prepared and ready to do so. The Act says that the authority which cares for you must help you plan and prepare for your move away from being looked after.  They also have a duty to offer more practical and financial support to young people leaving care.

In Hertfordshire the Independence Support Service is there to help and support you in your preparations to leave care and when you have left care. Different young people are ready to move into independent living at different times. Leaving home and setting up your own home is difficult for everyone. It may be even more difficult if you are not in contact with your family or other adults who can support you and give you advice, so it is important to work with your social worker or Leaving Care Personal Adviser, to get the support you will need.  How long you will need support depends on how long you were in care for and how old you were when you were looked after.   Your social worker or Leaving Care Personal Adviser will know all about this and can discuss your support needs with you.

Your social worker will work with you and the Independence Support Service from about the age of 15 and a half, introducing you to your own Leaving Care Personal Adviser.  The Independence Support Service will take over your support from age 16. Disabled young people and asylum seeking young people will continue to receive the majority of their leaving care support from their specialist service.

When you leave care, your Leaving Care Personal Adviser will have made sure that you have been involved in deciding where you will live, and in the plans for you to move on. They will have helped you to understand what it may be like to live independently, and supported you in learning the skills you will need.  You will have a pathway plan that sets out how the Independence Support Service will help you.

Leaving care may seem like a long way off, or you may be concerned that it will happen very soon.  There are lots of people around you who are happy to talk to you about your worries and concerns and happy to teach you any of the skills you think you may need when you leave care, so that you can be confident about managing to live independently, when the time comes.