Shared Lives Plus
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Programme information and background

For young people or care leavers with a learning disabilities, mental ill health, autism, or physical impairments, the transition from child to adult services can be challenging.

Shared Lives can be an ideal choice for care leavers and young people to benefit from ongoing support, within a Shared Lives household.

Shared Lives Plus has received funding from the Rayne Foundation, Segelman Trust and Headley Trust, for a two-year development project, in order to bring Shared Lives to care leavers with learning disabilities, autism and mental ill health.

This programme has been co-designed with young people, focusing on providing care-experienced young people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health challenges a stable and supportive home environment.

Our Vision:

We want Shared Lives to be the first choice for care leavers with SEND and part of core offer for care leavers, alongside Staying Put, Staying Close and Supported Lodgings.

What young people are saying:

“We want to stay near our friends, college and people we know.”

“We want to keep the relationships that are important to us.”

“We want to choose where we live and what we get to do.”

“We want to move on when we are ready.”

What are we doing?

Shared Lives Plus are working with 30 Shared Lives schemes / local authorities nationally to:

    • Influence national policy and ensure practical support for growth
    • Support members to work with care leavers, developing and adapting the model through evaluation and innovation
    • Lead focus groups and workshops for Shared Lives schemes, Shared Lives carers, and care leavers,
    • Supporting professionals to provide clear transition pathways from foster care

There have been over 50 new arrangements for care leavers since the programme started.

What local authorities are saying:

“We want options that offer value and quality.”

“We need pathways and processes into Shared Lives.”

“We need to raise the visibility of Shared Lives, especially in Children’s Services.”

“We want to grow Shared Lives.”

Lessons learned so far:

  1. Shared Lives is underused in many areas.
  2. Transitions are often poorly planned and disjointed.
    • Referrals are happening late 17+ which is not giving enough time to carefully plan for the young person’s transitions
    • Arrangements are starting post 18, which means that the young adult is either in a bridging or short term arrangement or has not had the security of knowing that they will move to Shared Lives before they formally leave care.
  3. There is a strong commitment to getting it right for disabled care leavers.
  4. Compliments Staying Close, Staying Put and Supported Lodgings but has no end.
  5. Over 75% of young people in Shared Lives arrangements are in employment, education or training (compared with 60% nationally)
  6. 99% of arrangements are funded by adult social care, despite many of the participating schemes being registered to support people from 16.
  7. Most young people are living with a carer they knew before they moved in, such as a foster carer or guardian.

This project follows on from our succesful pilot of expanding Shared Lives to people from the age of 16. You can download the evaluation report from this project below.

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