11,000 young people leave foster and residential care every year. Many of them experience a cliff-edge of support. The Leaving Well digital tool will better support young people leaving care by enabling them to collaborate with their case worker to reach their goals.
Care leavers face a lot of challenges when they move from care to independence. Young people leaving care often move to live by themselves earlier than most people. Some have a lot to deal with due to difficult life experiences and a lack of support from their local authority. This contributes to the poor outcomes that many care leavers experience in adulthood.
- Young people leaving care experience worse outcomes than their peers.
- The data collected on these young people is currently very limited. This means that it is difficult to understand the causes of these outcomes and how to improve them.
- Our research showed the potential for a digital tool to improve the experiences of young people leaving care.
We have developed a digital tool which aims to improve the support that young people receive. We worked with personal advisers (case workers for young people leaving care) and young people to develop every feature in the tool. The tool:
1. Gives young people a platform to express their voice and ambitions
2. Enables personal advisers to spend more time with young people. The tool makes admin tasks quicker and easier to complete.
3. Provides managers with information on their services. This can be used to identify areas which should be improved.
The tool will continue to be developed based on user feedback.
For more information contact contact.leavingwell@socialfinance.org.uk.