Your transition from children’s to adult social care services is an important step that needs to be done right. It requires careful planning and support.
As you approach adulthood, your care needs may change and the best way to meet your needs may also change. Understanding and planning the change is vital.
When you turn 14, it’s time to start planning for your future.
If you receive support from children’s social services, this will be reviewed as usual. Part of the review is about adapting the support provided as you become more independent.
If you do not currently receive support from children’s social care but feel you and your family need help, you can contact the Disabled Children’s Service to request an assessment of your needs.
If you think you will need help from adult social care, you can contact the Transitions Adult Social Care (TASC) Team. They will tell you about a Care Act transition assessment.
They will be able to offer you information and advice and complete an assessment with you if one has been requested. Anyone can ask for a transition assessment even if they do not currently receive support from children’s social care services.
If you want to complete a self-assessment, ask the TASC Team about a supported self-assessment which places you more in control of the assessment process.
If the transition assessment shows that you are likely to have eligible social care needs when you are 18, the next step will be to discuss and plan for how adult social care is going to make sure that your needs are met when you transition to their care. You will need to talk to your TASC worker about the best time to start planning. For a lot of young people, this will be when you are 17.
If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for adult social care services, you will be given advice on what services are available in the community to meet your needs.
Children’s services will continue reviewing your support, making sure that it adapts as you become more independent.
If you do not currently receive support from children’s social care but feel you and your family need help, you can contact the Disabled Children’s Service to request an assessment of your needs.
If you have not already done so, you can contact the Transitions to Adult Social Care Team if you think you may need support from adult social care services when you reach the age of 18.
If your assessment has said that you are likely to need the support of adult social care when you are 18, a social care worker will contact you when you are 17 to start talking about exactly what support you will need.
You may be offered help from the Reaching for Independence team; they help you to learn new skills or to find activities in the community and you may be offered equipment or apps that will help you to be more independent.
As you approach 18, we will agree with you and your family whether a support plan is needed and if it is, what will be in it.
If you require daily personal care or assistance to live independently and are thinking of going to university, you should let the Transitions to Adult Social Care Team know.
Your needs will be assessed taking into account the fact that you will be living independently in a university hall of residence or rented accommodation without parental support.
Once you know which university you will be attending, adult social care will talk to you about the type of support or care you will require, the cost of this support and how it will be funded.
It can take between 6 and 12 months to organise your support so you need to let adult social care know of your intentions at least a year before you start university.
Once you are 18, you can still approach adult social care to ask for a Care Act assessment if you have not had one or your needs or circumstances have changed.
If you have requested a Care Act transition assessment and you are receiving funded support from children’s social care, this should continue until the Care Act transition assessment has been completed.
Your support from children’s social care will probably end when you turn 18. The exceptions to this are if:
If you are going to receive support from adult social care this will commence on the day after your 18th birthday, although in some cases we may agree an ongoing plan to support your transition and agree when the identified support from adult services with start.
You will be contacted about six weeks after it has started and then every year. If you have any concerns during the period before the team are due to contact you, you should contact the team at transitionsadultsocialcare@devon.gov.uk and ask for an earlier conversation.
If you have a support plan in place this should be reviewed every year to make sure that the plan is helping you to meet your goals.