Why?

95% of care leavers from the Isle of Wight trust their leaving care worker. To help build these relationships further, the council decided to implement earlier involvement from PAs for children in care.

What?
  • There are about 180 young people being supported by the leaving care (18+) service at any one time. About a third of them will live off the island.
  • A Personal Adviser is allocated to a young person at age 15.5.
  • They start to work with a social worker from the children’s service team at age 16.
  • Between the young person 17th and 18th birthdays there is a pre-18 meeting with the leaving care team manager, social worker and PA.
  • The meeting is an opportunity to talk through what is going to change in the coming couple of years. What is important to the young person with a focus on who will support them – family/ friends, what their plans are for education, work etc. and where they plan to live.
  • The meeting also covers some of the practical issues – ensuring they have a passport, NI number and are aware of the local offer and what it means for them.
  • If there are planned changes of workers these introductions are delayed to ensure the long term worker is in place to start to build meaningful relationships.
Impact

Young people are saying they feel supported by their PAs and more aware of the changes they face.

It’s about establishing the professional relationship. Its about getting a clear plan early on in the relationship.

Personal Adviser, Leaving Care team

I was a bit of a nightmare when I was younger – but you were always there for me.

Young person aged 25