Introduction
The youth participation team have collated all of the key themes that you are raising in terms of improvements that you would like to see in Devon. This tracker sets out all of the actions that Devon County Council and its partners have taken in direct response to the issues that matter most to you.
This document is updated quarterly. The current version reflects any changes that took place between July and September 2024.
What young people would like to see happen
Over the last few years, young people in Devon been speaking up about the issues that matter most to them. As the Devon Youth Council, we’ve summarised this feedback into the following key points of what we’d like to see happen in Devon.
Please note that the following targets are written by the Devon Youth Council to Devon County Council and its partners.
- 🗣️ “We would like you to work together to ensure a smoother and faster transition into appropriate and stable 18+ housing, with a consistent and supportive approach regardless of where we live in Devon.”
- 🗣️ “We would like you to work together to ensure that more of us with SEND or care-experience are supported to thrive in our education and ultimately achieve paid employment in a field which interests us.”
- 🗣️ “We would like you to work together to improve mental health support up to the age of 25. Focus your attention on the needs of vulnerable groups, addressing gaps in services, the transition into adult services, and the early help support offer.”
- 🗣️ “We would like you to ensure that health provision and information is accessible and holistic and that transitions are supported and smooth.”
- 🗣️ “It is important that you ensure we have support to explore and understand our Identity, to find our place in our communities and to feel welcome, included and celebrated.”
- 🗣️ “If we are care-experienced and wanting to start a family, it is important that you provide us with stability and trauma-informed support at every stage.”
- 🗣️ “All of us should have clear access to our rights in any situation, know how to make ourselves heard and feel confident in our ability to influence change.”
Housing and home
We would like you to work together to ensure a smoother and faster transition into appropriate and stable 18+ housing, with a consistent and supportive approach regardless of where we live in Devon.
What we’ve done
- There have been two joint training events with housing district colleagues and PAs to look a how best to support care experienced young people with housing needs which included training on the law and trauma-informed practice.
- We are tracking in our data the occurrence of the use of the legal term ‘intentionally homeless’ in relation to care-experienced young people, so that we can ensure that going forwards this will only occur in very specific circumstances. We cannot at this stage get rid of its use entirely.
- We have developed our Staying Close model which is an in-house form of supported accommodation to provide stability for young people and prepare them for their own tenancies.
- Julian Watkins will be chairing the Lasting Homes for Care Leavers Panel in order to offer additional support to accommodation providers where there may be challenges.
What we’re doing
- The Care Leaver joint housing protocol which will provide a consistent approach across the Devon Districts and DCC is in final draft and should go to the Care for Me sub group in the next month for sign off.
- A flow chart of housing options for care-experienced young adults is being created so that it is easier to understand your options and how to achieve them.
- We are holding a focus group with young people who are currently not in education, employment or training but in supported housing to better understand all the barriers that they face in becoming employed.
- We are increasing our renting ready/ tenancy training offer to help young people be able to transition to their own tenancies and demonstrate their budgeting and independent living skills as this is an expectation of landlords whether that be private or social housing. Young people need to engage with these to move forwards.
- When care-experienced young people can prove that they are ready to live independently, their Band B rating is backdated to their 16th birthday. This gives a higher priority to care experienced young people. We are still working on consistency of this.
- We are working with housing benefit colleagues, supported housing providers and DCC leaders to understand the challenges around working whilst in supported accommodation. We are working on a solution so that those of you who work can keep more of your money.
- The HUB referral forms for housing have been updated and more strengths based; work needs to continue to make sure that they are being consistently used.
- We know that if you have Special Educational Needs or Difficulties, you will need more support to transition into appropriate housing. The TASC team are creating a transitions pathway that should make it easier for you to access support and understand what is happening next.
Education, employment and training
We would like you to work together to ensure that more of us with SEND or care-experience are supported to thrive in our education and ultimately achieve paid employment in a field which interests us.
What we’ve done
- We have a range of works experience opportunities for care-experienced young people across Devon and are matching young people to them through our newly developed Talent Bank. If you want future employment opportunities please speak to your PA.
- There is a new internal pathway planning forum that looks at post-18 planning for care-experienced young people from the age of 16.5 so that we can support social workers to put things in place for your education, training and housing and look ahead, as we know that things can become more difficult at 18 so early planning is important.
- The Aspirations worker employed by the Virtual School is specifically looking at care-experienced young people who do not have a post 16 or post 18 education plan.
What we’re doing
- Young asylum seekers have raised with us the challenges some of you are facing to access education, employment and training opportunities. This has been raised with the Deputy Director who is looking at how to address this problem.
- Young asylum seekers have raised some of the challenges around integration in some education facilities in Devon. This is being addressed by the Head of Education.
- At the Youth Voice event on 9 November, the Devon Youth Council will be raising the need for more neuro-affirming spaces in schools and colleges so that everyone feels safe and included.
- Network for Change have been working on a project with decision makers to emphasise the importance for young people with SEND to be able to access paid employment when you leave education. Decision makers are working on how to address this.
Mental health
We would like you to work together to improve mental health support up to the age of 25. Focus your attention on the needs of vulnerable groups, addressing gaps in services, the transition into adult services, and the early help support offer.
What we’ve done
- The new Therapeutic Wellbeing Practitioner (TWP) for Care Leavers, Sandra Loveday, has started her role. The other two TWPs start on 7 October.
- In order to educate Paediatricians on the importance of understanding mental health needs and fighting for support for young people’s mental health needs when they stay in hospital, a member of the Devon Youth Council worked with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to create a training video for doctors based on her life-experiences.
- We have bought a number of Rees Foundation Ask Jan subscriptions for Care Leavers. This subscription offers counselling, peer support and other opportunities. Speak to your PA if you would like to access this offer.
What we’re doing
- The new Therapeutic Wellbeing Practitioners will research the issues that care-experienced young people have raised around mental health support needs- particularly the gaps in provision and the transition into adult services. They will advocate for you to get support when you need it and offer some therapeutic support themselves if required.
- The Thrive directory of community support services for mental health has been created. This now needs to be embedded and used effectively by professionals working with young people.
- We are developing our training offer to foster carers so that they can better understand and support young people who are experiencing mental health challenges.
- We have started a project to improve Lifestory work so that we can improve the quality and consistency of this and prevent ongoing questions about your early life affecting your mental health as you get older.
- Some leisure centres in Devon are offering free access for care-experienced young people as we know exercise is important for wellbeing. We are working with local councils to get all council leisure centres to adopt this policy.
- Our Lifelong Links project recognises the postive impact of long-term trusted relationships for care-experienced young people on wellbeing and future relationships . Our Young care-experienced lead will be giving a presentation on Life Long Links to PAs soon so that as many of you as possible can access this opportunity.
- Mental Health has been identified as the top issue for young people in Devon. The Devon Youth Council are facilitating a youth-voice event for decision-makers on Mental Health support in schools and colleges in November.
- The Devon Youth Council are facilitating peer research on the Mental Health Support in Schools Teams MHST) programme as part of the NHS review of the service.
Physical health
We would like you to ensure that health provision and information is accessible and holistic and that transitions are supported and smooth.
What we’ve done
- We have worked with some young asylum seekers to create a video about Initial Health Assessments so that it is less confusing and scary for new young people arriving in Devon. The video has been translated into several different languages.
What we’re doing
- We are working with health colleagues to enable all care-experienced young people to access free prescriptions for medicine.
Identity and community
It is important that you ensure we have support to explore and understand our Identity, to find our place in our communities and to feel welcome, included and celebrated.
What we’ve done
- We want to take every opportunity to celebrate your achievements as care-exeperienced young people, so we have increased our financial incentive when you take exams to include Functional Skills.
- In order to raise awareness and understanding of care-experience, we have supported some of you to deliver Total Respect Training to teams in Childrens Services. This has made a really good impression and led to changes and improvements across the service.
What we’re doing
- We have started a project exploring how the belongings of children in care and care leavers are stored and looked after throughout care as this is something that has been raised to us as an issue through the Total Respect Training.
Supporting care experienced parents
If we are care-experienced and wanting to start a family, it is important that you provide us with stability and trauma-informed support at every stage.
What we’ve done
We have not yet fully completed any actions on this area.
What we’re doing
We have started a working group to look at the issues you have raised as care-experienced or vulnerable parents so that we can continue to improve the support that is given to you so that you can be the best parents possible.