Care to the Community Torbay Council Old Town Hall New Street Paignton TQ3 3HL | |
| csenquiries @torbay.gov.uk | |
| 01803 208345 | |
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Care to the Community
We provide a service for Children Looked After aged 16 - 24, to support their progress towards independence.
Our Aims
In October 2001, the Government introduced new legislation that provides extra support to young people who leave care. The main aims of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 are:
- to delay discharge from care until young people are prepared and ready to leave
- to improve the financial arrangements for care leavers
How do we help?
Leaving Care workers, Personal Advisers, Admin Team and Manager provide a dedicated service for care leavers in Torbay by:
- Providing advice and support
- Understanding needs
- Helping to design and write Pathway Plans and reviewing them regularly
- Negotiating on behalf of young people to ensure they get the help and support they need
- Staying in touch
- Giving feedback at Young Persons Forums on an individual basis and through the regular news magazine 'Compass Cred' for Torbay care leavers
The team has a good understanding of the issues that affect young people as they leave care: money, accommodation, benefits, tenancies, health, substance abuse, pregnancy, keeping safe, neighbours and core skills for independence. We work closely with other agencies to improve the service, for example Connexions, the Fostering Team, Dartington Tech and Health.
We are pushing to provide a variety of suitable accommodation, including our own Waypoint Supported Lodgings scheme, house shares and single flats in partnership with a Housing Association specifically for Torbay care leavers.
We have consulted with young people and their workers and from this the Pathway Planning process has been refined to be user-friendly, clear and straightforward. Reviews are held every six months - or sooner if any big changes occur. The Plan contains a statement about the young person's financial entitlements and individual financial agreements are worked out with Personal Advisers but devised and driven by the young person.
Related Documents
To view any published Related Documents for this service you will require the appropriate software. To download this software please see our documents help page. All links to documents will open in a new window. To request documents and files in an alternative format please contact us using the contact information provided on this page.