If you’ve left our care or are about to leave our care, our Care Leavers Local Offer explains the services and support that is available to you.
We will help you to get the support you are entitled to.
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As your Corporate Parent, it is our collective responsibility to make sure you know what services are available to you, and what you can expect to receive when you are a care leaver.
As your corporate parent, it is our collective responsibility to make sure you know what services are available to you, and what you can expect to receive when you are a care leaver.
We will also help make sure that you are provided with every opportunity to lead a fulfilling life, in the same way that any good parent would do for their child. We are also responsible for helping and supporting you after you have left our care.
Terminology to be aware of/types of care leaver
There are four ‘types of care leaver, depending on when and how long you were in care. Each one is entitled to different things under law so it is important that you know what type of care leaver you are and how much support is available to you.
Find out about the types of care leaver
Eligible
An eligible care leaver is a young person who is aged 16 or 17 and is still in care.
Relevant
A relevant care leaver is a young person who is aged 16 or 17, but has left care on or after their 16th birthday.
Former relevant
A former relevant care leaver is a young person aged 18-25 who was in care on or after their 16th birthday.
Qualifying
If you are a qualifying care leaver, you are a young person aged 16-21 (or up to 25 if in education) who was no longer being looked after, privately fostered or in other accommodated settings, after the age of 16 and not on your birthday.
You are also a qualifying care leaver if you left care and returned home for more than 6 months before you turned 18.
You can find out more about these turns by reading our full Local Offer.
Your Young Persons Advisor (YPA)
When you reach 16, you will be allocated a YPA to prepare you to leave care and to build a relationship with you.
The relationship between you and your YPA is important. The better the relationship, the more you will benefit from having a YPA and it’s important to keep in touch and agree how much contact you would like.
As a minimum, they will visit you at least every 3 months before you are 18.
Your Pathway Plan
Your Pathway Plan will set out how you will be supported to achieve the things that you want for yourself in your life, and who is going to provide the help you need.
It is a ‘live’ document, and you will be able to review it every 6 months to add to or revise the Plan as you see fit and as your aspirations develop or change.
It will be important that your Pathway Plan accurately sets out what is important to you, and what you want to achieve in the future. In order to do this your Social Worker/Young Persons Advisor will also talk with your parents or carers and other important people in your life – and you should tell them who the important people are.
Your Social Worker or YPA will continue to meet with you and review the Pathway Plan.
Contacting our Leaving Care Team
To contact our Leaving Care Team please call 01753 476729 or email…
If you need help after 5pm or on the weekends or bank holidays, you can call our Emergency Duty
Number (EDT) on: 01344 351 999.
Read/download our Local Offer
To view our full Local Offer Offer, which you are also able to download, please click here.
Just because you may have left or be leaving care doesn’t mean our care for you will.