Transition to Adulthood for Young People

Every teenager must consider their path from childhood into adulthood. We support people with learning disabilities to navigate their own transition to adulthood, helping them consider their options – whether it be making friends, finding jobs, or thinking about where they want to live.

What age do young people transition to adulthood?

In the UK, young people with learning disabilities are recognised as adults when they reach 19 years old.

To prepare for this, transition to adulthood begins earlier, generally by Year 9 (13-14 years old). To help with this, many family members choose to help children to start making decisions for themselves when they become 16. Of course, this is only if they have capacity to do so.

When thinking about transition to adulthood, we encourage young people to think about the outcomes they want to achieve. These are reviewed regularly as adulthood approaches.

When do young people switch from child to adult services?

Children with learning disabilities who are eligible for social care are eligible to receive it until becoming an adult. At this point, they transition to social care designed for adults.

The transition to adult services can be very difficult for both the service user and their family. It comes at a time when there are plenty of other things to consider, such as changes in education.

At Alina Homecare, we believe at planning these changes as early as possible. We can help advise you and support you through the transition to adulthood.

Will there be a gap in services?

There usually isn’t a gap in between child and adult services. When the transition to adulthood takes place, your local authority must continue any services throughout the process.

This continues until adult services take over – or until an assessment shows care and support may finish.

How can Alina Homecare Disability Support help with the transition to adulthood?

Registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support both children and adults in their transition to adulthood, we have extensive experience supporting young people as they move from children to adult services.

Alina Homecare staff are trained in supporting children and young people in areas such as:

  • Building skills in social & home settings
  • Developing friendships & relationships
  • Maintaining and creating new networks of support
  • Navigating social media

At the core of our organisational values is an emphasis on personalised support, ensuring that we nurture and develop the interests of the people we support and work towards their individual outcomes.

These specific values are instilled within our Teams and in our services, especially when working with children and young people.

We encourage everyone who uses our services to reach their potential in terms of education, emotional, physical health and wellbeing, social inclusion and financial security. Support plans and risk assessments are undertaken with the understanding that they must be open to regular review, as the persons choices and decisions change.

We can help manage family communications and reactions to risky/unwise decisions made by young people and develop their greater knowledge of risk, balanced against the safeguarding aspects of their care; and promoting the advantages of positive risk in order that the young person can have the opportunity to challenge themselves and their decision making.

Alina Homecare has clear organisational values which staff uphold when delivering support. This includes showing dignity and respect and providing, compassionate, thoughtful, and high-quality care always. We operate a stringent safe, and values-led recruitment process followed by consistent staff monitoring.

In line with the Children’s Act 2004, we make staff aware that safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility, reinforced through our Academy training and staff policies.  As the young person makes their transition to adulthood, we ensure that we put the right support in place for the young person and their family, to enable them to positively embrace their future.

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