Section 20 - Moving on at 18

www.lcs-partnerships.co.uk/

I came these recently - they supposedly provided semi-independent, sole-occupancy accommodation/support to care leavers.
May be worth investigating?

Thanks for your replies - SS certainly have a duty of care for a number of years, it is what that duty of care means!

Very interesting from Little Miss Cheerful, thank you, we aren't one of the LA's they have worked with but never say never....

JMK is the wonderwoman who did my avatar, great isn't it!

Mooster x

There should be pathway planning underway, have you been party to these meetings about assessing your yp and possible ways ahead

Think this document is helpful

Spells out what keeping pr in section 'should' mean

Ooooo how annoying !
www.ncb.org.uk/media/517905/ncercc_careplanningforrcc.pdf

Hi Mooster,
sorry I have had a hectic week (all devoted to younger ad) and just seen your posting and the pm re your ad moving on. Bit of a long reply for you, but here goes!

Our younger ad was section 20 for 3 years, we have a large children & families dept here, and she had a good social worker. She lived in a children's home in the middle of nowhere for her own safety. She was impossible to parent, and threatened me with a knife, possession of Cannabis in home - the list goes on.

At one time our ad was tied up with an exploitation gang and this coincided when we were looking at the Foyer accommodation (supported and secure for vulnerable adults, but she was rejected because it was thought she may lead others into vulnerable situations).

At 17.5 SS decided to move her into one of their basic flats (it was felt she would benefit from housing support, it meant her living on her own, but as she had no mh diagnosis other than a mild learning difficulty it was impossible to get her a secure, daily supported accommodation). Of course she treated the flat as a doss house really, and again mixed with pimps and drug dealers. She was hurriedly moved to yet another SS flat after a gang of youths tried to break her front door down to get at her (I'm afraid all her problems have been, and still are that she mixes with the low life). As she was only 17.5 she could not claim benefits, so SS gave her the same as Job Seekers/Income support each week and provided the accommodation foc. She has a juvenile criminal record and she was visited by NACRO workers and housing support workers periodically.

Once she turned 18, she was able to go on the council waiting list and claim benefits, she never wanted to come home to live after spending 3 years away from home, and we have always worried about the kind of people who she would bring to our front door should she come back to live with us.

She was given band A rating for a 1 bedroomed flat (band A is priority), and a flat came up very close to us, on not a bad estate (we always continued to keep in touch with her), and she was lucky to get the flat along with a generous grant to furnish it. In the meantime she was attending a training centre (excluded from school, found mainstream impossible, went to a EBD school for a year where she received 1:1 teaching - excelled in this environment),and wanted to study Health and Social work, so she was able to claim Income Support (minimum 16 hours study per week to receive this, the allowance is the same as Job Seekers).

I can honestly say that independant living has changed our daughter, maybe getting older has too, she is 20 in a few months time. She starts adult education centre next week for level 2 Children and Young People's course which includes a 2 day placement as a mentor in an EBD school locally - she wants to work with children in care or girls who have been exploited. She is not very bright, no GCSE's, but these hands on courses have maths and english running alongside. She worked very very hard to obtain her level 1 health and social.

We have a great relationship now, I worry about her and always will, she cannot tell the bad guys from the good guys, and she still gets into scarpes with males (last event her current bf hid drugs in her flat and beat her up, trashed her flat), all resolved eventually. Housing association are good, and she has a housing worker helping her. She has a SS PA, who really does nothing, as I do it all for her. Cannot get her to have hobbies and interests, but she is good company and is slowly maturing in little steps. As with a lot of council estates drugs are all around her, but she promises me she is not interested.

I love her very much and I know she loves her adopted family more than anything. Dad fixes things for her, I spend money on her, Sister tolerates her! We tick along nicely, she comes for dinner 2/3 times a week, and we speak on phone every day. We are at a place I never, ever thought we would be, last weekend she came to our caravan with me with her beloved dog. We had a lovely time together.

I control her benefits, putting money into a savings account for her bills,(by banking on line), I pay her bus pass (only if she attends college), her mobile phone and take her to supermarket each week and pay for her food, occasional clothes shopping too, so she costs me quite a bit, but I work full time, and am o.k with that.

She won the 2014 regional SS award earlier this year for her transfer from section 20 to independant living, and the Director of SS talked about how she has moved from continually risking her life to now being a student.

I am confident that she will eventually get her level 2 and move on to level 3 hopefully, then study youth work. She does a lot of volunteering for SS and they think highly of her.

The law says they must be supported as a care leaver until age 21, or 25 if still a student.

Stick with it Mooster, and anyone else who can see a glimmer of hope there. I despised her at one time, and wished I had never adopted her, she gave us such worries and stress, nearly broke my marriage, but I would not be without her now. She will always be hard work, and may hook up with an undesirable partner, but we are here for her, and every day she thanks us for our support and all the other help we give her. She keeps her flat clean and tidy now (with encouragement), and has it nice. She gets lonely, but another young girl has just moved into the flat below her, so she has made friends with her. I buy her lots of word search books, which she loves.

Good luck with your ad Mooster, fight for what you think is best. Please feel free to pm me if you need anymore info.

Love Spring xx

Also meant to say thank you to PT for links - interesting reading - I think when AD first went into Section 20 FC we were in such a bad place we had no idea what was going on, what our role as parents was meant to be and SS were so intent on blaming us that our parental rights were not considered at all - AD stated she didn't want us as parents and she was taken at her word!

We have got better at this parenting from a distance as batteries have recharged, her true colours came to light and our relationship with her improved.

Mooster x

Hi again Mooster,

I get the impression that SS want ad to come back to live with you? You are considering this because you have a strong relationship.
ALL care leavers are entitled to housing when they leave S20 care, and SS are under an obligation to find her suitable housing.

When she is 18 she can bid for a council flat (and as a care leaver she will be given priority), as she is a student she will be entitled to Income support as long as she is studying for 16 hours minimum (the current rate is £57+ each week).

I would let her have a try at independant living, and let her know you are at the end of the phone and she can come for dinner, chill out with you and watch TV, be involved in family meet ups etc. if she is not too far away. I tell my ad she has the best of both worlds, and when I drop her off back at her flat, I can relax for a day or two until I see her again.

I would be very very careful about having her back into the family home, the stress could all begin again.

Good luck, keep us updated.

Janie2 x

Great thread.

I think I may pin this as it is something a lot of us section20 parents will find useful as our children get older.

Little voice on the phone “I don’t know what I want!”

Feedback from SW after meeting AD two hours later “She was adamant that she wants to go down the living on her own route.”


Good News: Now has part time job in local supermarket
Confusing News: This may have a bigger impact on her income support/housing allowance than we first thought but no one can give a definitive answer

Hope we haven’t gone down a blind alley with this one.

Mooster x

Just to ask please
If anyone has info on placements that are ok for high functioning autistic Young lady
Who has lots of trauma and is big on risk taking
Plus a set of parents who love her to bits....

Fairly desperate after Frank and quite miserable meeting about options ahead this far
Been asked to find alternatives that could work?

Help

Can't believe it is a year since my original post and guess what - we are still in almost exactly the same place.

AD still in same placement, albeit now called Supported Lodging, which is in the middle of nowhere with no decent transport links and no obligation by lodging hosts to give lifts.

We have been through attempts at new support lodging, shared housing, private rental, working abroad, rejected housing applications......To get on housing register here you need two year residency and a need for housing. It took from March (see last post above) until August for her to ask me for help with Housing Register and I got further than anyone else with one visit and one letter....now they are saying residency bit ok but has no housing need which I still believe she has a strong case for arguing if you really read their policy.

More than happy to fight battles but sometimes AD finds it really hard to ask for help and follow things through unless you take her by the hand and do it for her! This explains lots of the failed attempts; as soon as you think you are getting somewhere she throws a spanner in the works as you are trying desperately hard to get her to take some responsibility and show some maturity. All too scary.

So we are off down the private rental route again, care leavers can get enhanced Local Housing Allowance until they are 22 which would cover the cost of a small flat, finding a landlord who will take an 18 year old in part time work with a flat near enough to work to make sure she can get there is one thing.....whether she will actually be able to manage it is another.....

We're facing the same - DD is 16 shortly and in Scotland will then be classed as an adult and can make her won decisions - her foster placement will remain open if she wants it, but she can choose to move on etc. I feel she is far too young to be given these choices....she is not even coping with choices about whether or not to stay at school (or even to continue to engage now).