Moving from Children's Social Care to Adult Services
As Children and Young People approach adulthood it is important that they have whatever they need to live full, safe and happy lives. Children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, may need extra support during this transition to ensure they are fully prepared for adulthood.
We have a number of teams and processes in place to ensure this transition is joined up and includes children, young people, their parents and Carers throughout.
The Children’s Transitions Team
The Children’s Transitions Team is for young people aged 16 and up to 18. The team will work with young people with life-long physical and/or learning disabilities and is made up of social care professionals.
The level of support and assessment from the Children’s Transition Team will depend upon the young person’s needs and their age. Where appropriate we will direct young people, parents and Carers to information, advice and guidance. Live Well Cheshire West provides the ‘SEND Local Offer’ a directory of services and support for children and young people with Special Educational Need and Disabilities and their parents and Carers.
The Adult Transitions Team
The Adult Transition Team is responsible for assessing and planning with young people with life-long physical and/or learning disabilities from 18 to 25. We start to get to know young people from 16 and start gathering information and helping young people to plan and prepare for adulthood. We have a link worker attached to each of the Special Schools and colleges and attend events to get to know young people and their parents and carers. We work closely with colleagues from Children’s Social Care, Education and Health to support young people more information can be found on our Enable Great Lives page.
The Autism service
The Autism service is responsible for assessing and planning with Autistic young people from 18 to 25. The team has Social Workers and an Occupational Therapist. We start to get to know young people from 16 and start gathering information and helping young people to plan and prepare for adulthood. We work closely with colleagues from Children’s Social Care, Education and Health to support young people more information can be found on our Enable Great Lives page.
Assessment
As the young person becomes older it may be appropriate for us to complete a ‘Child Needs Assessment’ (Sometimes referred to as a Section 58 Needs Assessment). This assessment identifies young people who are likely to have Care and Support needs after the age of 18.
Following this assessment we will give the young person and their parents/carers an indication as to whether any of the needs for care and support are likely to meet the eligibility criteria under the Care Act.
We will also provide advice and information about:
- what can be done to meet or reduce the needs which we think the young person is likely to have after becoming 18
- what can be done to prevent or delay their care and support needs in the future
When a young person who we have identified as having eligible needs reaches 17, a Social Care worker from the Adult Transitions Team will work alongside their worker from Children’s Social Care to ensure that there is a good plan in place for when they reach adulthood.
Directions Panel
Some young people without a diagnosed Special Educational Need or Disability might also need extra support as they reach adulthood but their pathway to support is not clear. To help plan for these young people’s future we have a multi-agency Directions Panel which includes professionals from Social Care, Health, Education, Early Help, Criminal Justice, Housing and Commissioning. The panel meets monthly and enables workers to bring information about young people with their permission. The panel offers support and advice about services which can support young people and agree a plan for their future. This also enables the different organisations present to identify any gaps in services and support for young people to inform future service development.