Shared Lives Plus are working with 30 schemes nationally to support with developing, embedding and growing their Shared Lives offer to young people. The vision of the programme is for:
The momentum created by this work provides an opportunity to accelerate growth of Shared Lives for care leavers and transitions nationally, and embed this as part of the core offer for those that need it.
One of the 30 schemes taking part in the care leavers programme are Persona, a Shared Lives provider in Bury. They are aiming to grow their Shared Lives offer for young people leaving children’s care by:
Since joining the care leavers programme, Persona have supported Alex* and his foster carer Susan* to transition to Shared Lives, after his social worker referred him so that consistent support would remain in Alex’s life.
During the transition Persona met on a regular basis with colleagues from children’s services, sharing all relevant paperwork, training, and reports between the two teams, and since moving to Shared Lives some children’s professionals have also remained supporting Alex and Susan for consistency.
The original referral was for Alex to continue to live with Susan, however this changed to a respite and day support basis when at 18, Alex decided to stay more often with his birth mother. Alex successfully secured a job with Bury Council, helping a small team with general maintenance and cleaning. On the nights that he has work the next day he stays with Susan, but generally he splits his time in Shared Lives and with his birth mother.
At present, Alex is now waiting for a move in date to go into his own flat supported by a scheme who further offer independence skills building. Once he has moved in, Alex will continue to receive support from Susan, and he is very excited about this stage of life.
This arrangement and transition between children’s and adult’s services has been beneficial to demonstrate to the local authority the advantages of Shared Lives and what it can offer for care leavers, such as community based, high quality and person-centred care.
Mo Arthur, Registered Shared Lives Manager at Persona has met with social workers working with Alex and discussed the potential for other care leavers to join Shared Lives, particularly from day support where young people can benefit from developing their skills, understanding their finances, and other community support. Mo said,
“Supporting Alex (and Susan) was a success, we are pleased to see Alex moving on to independent living with our support. Susan is also considering opening up her home to more young people leaving care as part of Shared Lives.
“We have some amazing carers with lots of knowledge and experience to support young people with the next part of their journeys and working with social workers, we’re looking forward to supporting more care leavers in Shared Lives.”
*Names changed
Find out more about Shared Lives for care leavers in Bury:
0161 253 6000 info@personasupport.org https://www.personasupport.org/
