Carers of young people transitioning from Children's to Adult services

What is transition?

Transition means change.

For children and young people with a disability, when we talk about transition we mean the change from being a teenager to being an adult and from moving on from children's care services to adult's care services.

Through consultation with Carers around the Inverclyde Carers Strategy 2017-22 we identified a need for improved support for Carers of children with disabilities during transition periods. 

Some additional resources have been put in place through HSCP Children Services However Carers still tell us they are experiencing difficulties and HSCP recognise the need to work alongside a range of partners through the Learning Disabilities Strategic Implementation Group to address this, review and reshape supports for people with Learning Disabilities.

We can provide support to Carers of young people with disabilities. For example, arranging benefit checks as Carers often tell us that they are overwhelmed by the changes to the benefits system. We also know that many Carers find external support ends suddenly when their child leaves education and this can have detrimental impact on whole families. We believe such situations could be vastly reduced by providing support and time developing relationships with Carers prior to transition to adult services.

During the transition period young people can experience changes in lots of areas of their lives. These changes may include: -

• leaving education
• thinking about starting a job or work experience
• changes to their benefits and finances
• moving into new accommodation
• changes to health and medical services
• changes in any social care support
• changes to personal relationships

It's a time when young people gain new rights and responsibilities. Transition can be an exciting time for young people, full of new opportunities however, it can also be a worrying time as young people move on from familiar people and places and face new challenges.

It is important that young people with disabilities and their parents/Carers plan for transition.