The Care Leavers Project team has been busy in recent months, working to raise awareness of Shared Lives as a valuable option for young people leaving care with social support needs. This work is led by Rachel Leslie, Strategic Advisor – People Leaving Care and Transitions.
In March, we held the fourth ‘Community of Practice’ for the Care Leavers Programme, bringing together the various schemes involved to share insights and provide updates.
Since the programme started, 72 care leavers have moved into Shared Lives arrangements across the schemes, with over 75% now engaged in employment, education, or training. This is significantly higher than the national average of 60%.
However, most of these care leavers were referred after age 17 and started their placements after turning 18.
Late planning and referrals for transitions continue to be a challenge, and we are actively working to address this.
Schemes participated in a live survey about the programme and provided valuable feedback.
One participant shared, “We are developing a process that is clear and allowing us to work more closely with children’s services, all very new!” Some challenges noted included “growing the team to support the growth of placements,” while others expressed appreciation for the opportunity to share experiences and feel supported by other schemes.
On March 17th, Rachel Leslie and Suzi Clark, Head of Strategic Advice at Shared Lives Plus, visited the Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives team.
The visit focused on their efforts to support care leavers. Telford and Wrekin have successfully expanded their scheme for the 16+ cohort, securing funding for placements through Children’s Services.
The team has also created videos to help recruit new carers, which have already shown positive results. You can watch the videos on their website.
Isabelle Trowler, Chief Social Worker, and a team from the Department for Education will visit our Telford and Wrekin and Oxfordshire schemes in late April and early May.
This visit provides an excellent opportunity for them to see firsthand the innovative work taking place in the schemes and how Shared Lives is making a positive impact on care leavers.
The visit is part of our efforts to include Shared Lives in the national Staying Close offer, a new duty for local authorities to provide and fund support and accommodation for all care leavers up to the age of 25.
We’ve been running tax and benefit sessions for foster carers transitioning to Shared Lives, as well as for Shared Lives carers who have been foster carers for some time.
These sessions have been well-received, so we have added additional dates.
For more information, please contact Rachel at rachel.leslie@sharedlivesplus.org.uk.
We are also continuing to work with national fostering organisations to raise awareness of Shared Lives.
To support the transition from children’s services to adult services, we’ve created new FAQs for young people, carers, and professionals. A best practice pathway will be available on our website soon.
We continue to hold quarterly one-to-one sessions with all schemes, and we will be hosting a webinar for Shared Lives schemes to share the lessons learned from the programme.
In addition, we are planning an in-person Community of Practice event in Birmingham in May, with 25 attendees, including one of our care-experienced ambassadors.
We are in the process of submitting a full application to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, following a successful Expression of Interest, to secure additional funding for the programme over the next three years.
