When it comes to transition from children’s to adults service, proactivity is the key to making it as smooth a process as possible for your young person.

It may seem a long way off before they will be leaving school, but sticking your head in the sand will not ignore the fact that it is going to happen. From our own experiences – time flies so quickly! Our children grow so fast and before we knew it, Laura was no longer a child – she was an adult in the eyes of the local authorities and about to leave the cocoon of school and childrens services that had supported her all her life.

So what’s next? Further education, Work, Independent Living, Residential Care? Do you know what there is in your local area?

Informing yourselves as parents is essential, but support with the process is also really important. Schools should be proactively encouraging you to find out everything you can about future options for your children, as early as possible. If they are not, ask them to be more proactive.

We go to over 120 schools a year all across the country, attending transition events, information days, parent evenings, parent support coffee mornings…where schools invite providers from across education, housing, day opportunities etc to come along and share their information with parents.

Does your school run a transition event? If not, ask them to set one up. It will enable all the services in your area to come together and showcase what is available. We would also be happy to come along to share what we do and share our unique insights into the world of care from a parent’s perspective.

We also have a link on the blog to support schools in how to set up their own transition event, here.