Caring for a looked-after child

Preparing young people for adulthood

This chapter explains the way in which we promote independence for young people in our foster placements.

Each child and young person is individual, and children who are fostered may have special needs or delayed development, due to a disability or to past experiences.

This policy aims to meet the requirements of the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services (Standard 12) by setting out what is expected of foster carers in terms of preparing children and young people for independent or semi-independent living.

No young person under 18 should have to leave care before they feel ready to do so. When they do leave the foster home for greater independence, it will usually be appropriate for you to remain in contact with the young person for a period of time and to offer appropriate support, consistent with the role of a reasonable parent. This will help the young person to feel valued and avoid feeling isolated.

You should support young people to:

Establish positive and appropriate social and sexual relationships
Develop positive self-esteem and emotional resilience
Prepare for the world of work or further and higher education
Prepare for moving into their own accommodation
Develop practical skills, including shopping, buying, cooking and keeping food, washing clothes, personal self-care and understanding and taking responsibility for personal healthcare
Develop financial capability, knowledge and skills
Know about entitlements to financial and other support after leaving care, including benefits and support from social care services
For young people with a stable foster placement, continuing to live in their former foster home under a 'Staying Put' placement can offer a transition to independence closer to that experienced by most other young people
Regardless of the age of the young person in the placement, their need to develop skills so that they can become as independent as possible should be borne in mind and they should be encouraged to take responsibilities when they are able to do so
You are expected to give the young person opportunities at appropriate times to practice independence tasks such as cooking, washing and ironing, within the foster home
Young people should, from time to time, be involved in supermarket shopping with you and should be helped to compare value for money and health benefits of different items, for example
You should help children learn to prepare food and drinks, from making tea and coffee, to preparing cold and later hot snacks, and on to preparing simple meals
As the child matures, they should gradually be given responsibility for paying for certain of their own needs from their pocket money such as leisure activities, toiletries and mobile phone vouchers

These expectations should gradually be increased as the young person reaches the age of 15. By the time they reach this age, unless it's inappropriate because of their level of understanding, they should be encouraged to open a bank or building society account in their own name and should be helped to do this themselves.

You should use the ordinary course of events within their household to make children aware of the process of paying bills and highlight how easily debts can build up when offers of loans are constantly dropping through the letter box. Young people should be helped to understand the dangers of this.

These processes also become formalised in the young person's Pathway Plan, which starts to be developed before the young person reaches the age of 16. The Pathway Plan which sits alongside the Care Plan is an agreement between the local authority and the young person about what should happen in the future, and how the local authority should support and provide for the young person to support their education, training or employment, career aspirations, dates for leaving care, and where they will live after leaving care.

All looked-after children and care leavers who take up an apprenticeship can access top-up bursaries.

Leaving care - pathway planning

You should be actively involved in the development of each child's Care Plan, in collaboration with the child. As the child reaches the age of 16, you'll help with the development of the Pathway Plan and work collaboratively with the young person, their social worker or personal adviser in implementing it.

You should actively support the young person to be an active agent in this process. As part of this, you should also support the personal adviser to identify the ways in which they can provide practical, financial and emotional support to young people as they become independent.

Staying put

We'll support the work of the local authority in their duties to help young people to 'stay put' and avoid an unnecessary or premature move to independence once they reach the age of 18.

The 'Staying Put' arrangement operates to provide for young people to remain in their foster placement from the age of 18, in situations where they are likely to need the ongoing support of their foster family on a semi-independent basis.

Staying in a family environment can make all the difference to the participation rates of young people in education, employment or training. Young people who remain with carers post-18 are more likely to access practical support around budgeting, housekeeping and heath and have lower rates of alcohol and substance dependence and abuse.

The role of 'Staying Put' carers is to carry out this ethos and prepare young people for independence, possibly up to the age of 21.

If it's proposed that a young person stay with foster carers beyond the age of 18, you'll be assessed in terms of your ability to meet the young person's needs into adulthood.

See our Staying put procedure for more information.

Standards and regulations

Fostering Services National Minimum Standards (England) 2011

Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care

Useful links:

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