Preparing for Adulthood

Pressure on Adult Social Care has increased due to the coronavirus and this is impacting the way they can support the transition of young people to adult services. DCC have provided an update which states…..

We know this is a difficult and worrying time, and so the Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) team wanted to provide young people and their families with an update on the activity of the team through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This way, we hope to be as clear as possible about what you can expect from the team.

Usually, the PfA team can be involved in early preparation work with young people and their families, including attending Education Health and Care Plan meetings when young people are 14 or older. In normal circumstances, Adult Social Care manage the transition to their services from around 17.5 years.

Because of coronavirus (COVID-19) there is much more pressure on Adult Social Care, so during this time they are not able to manage the transition as they usually would.

We know how important is that young people and their families know what support they can expect and from whom once the young person turns 18 years old, and this is especially in these difficult and uncertain times. Therefore, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak the PfA team are taking over managing transitions and will focus on supporting and completing the transition of young people who are aged 17.5-18 years. To do this the PfA team have had to temporarily stop all early preparation work with young people and their families.

However, we also know how important the early preparation work is too, so we are working on plans to once again engage earlier with young people and their families, while also finding innovative ways to engage with young people and their families. Things are changing quickly, so we will keep you updated on our plans through the SEND newsletter, which is available on the SEND Local Offer webpages.