A Personal Adviser
All Eligible, Relevant, Former Relevant and Qualifying Care Leavers will be allocated a PA from the Care and Support Service from the age 16 and they will work alongside your social worker to assist you in preparing for your Transition into adult life.
Your PA will support you to develop the skills that will assist you to live independently at a time when you are ready to do so. A key role of the PA is to provide and coordinate the support, advice and guidance you will need to live in your own accommodation. Your PA may offer you support via referrals to partner agencies and will also complete direct work with you around developing your independence skills, budgeting and cooking etc through sessions available at the ‘HUB’ based at the New Kershaw Centre. Your Personal Adviser will work alongside your Social Worker to develop your Pathway Plan until you leave care at which point your personal adviser will be responsible for working with you to develop the plan.
Learning the necessary skills to live independently does not begin after you have left care, it beings when you are still in care and young people will be encourage to develop these skills in both their placements and via the HUB at New Kershaw Centre.
Pathway Plan
Pathway Plans will be prepared for all Eligible, Relevant and Former Relevant young people. From the age of 16 your Pathway Plan will replace your Care Plan. Your Pathway Plan is about your needs and what we all need to do to ensure your successful Transition to adult life.
How will I be involved?
For your Pathway Plan to be effective it will be based on an up to date needs Assessment and will set out the support that you need to achieve your aspirations. We aim to fully involve you in the development of your Pathway Plan.
With your agreement and where it is appropriate we will seek the views of your parents and Carers, we will also seek the views from our partner agencies which may include; Housing, Education, Training and Employment providers, Benefits, Health services, Youth Offending Services and Youth Support Services. Your Pathway Plan will seek to ensure that all agencies are working together to provide you with clear and consistent advice and support. We will also consider if you have any extra support needs. These could be because:
- You have special education needs or disability
- You are an unaccompanied Asylum seeker
- You are in custody
- You are pregnant or are a parent
Your right to be heard and taken seriously
You have a right to be involved in all decisions about your plans for leaving care. You have a right to support from an independent advocate if you want to challenge decisions about the support we give you.
Independent advocates can inform you about your rights and help you to be heard in meetings. They are separate from Children’s Services. If you would like support from an independent advocate you can ask your personal adviser to support you to access this service or you can contact Children’s Rights directly on 0161 253 6339.
In addition, you can also access Help at Hand, which is the Children’s Commissioner’s advice and assistance service for children in care, children who have a social worker or are working with social services, children living away from home and care leavers.
Children, young people, or their advocates can get in touch with Help at Hand for free by phone, website or email. Visit https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/help-at-hand for more information.
Your views are important to us and we encourage you to tell us what you think we can do to help and support you. You can do this by:
- If you are interested in getting involved in our Care Leavers Forum or any wider participation activities as part of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, then ask to speak to Nicola Pinder or Kerrie Eastwood (Advanced Personal Advisors) who lead on these areas and can let you know about events and meetings.
- Completing regular questionnaires or putting suggestions in the suggestion box at the HUB.
- Attending participation events held at the HUB. For more information contact your PA .
- Have an active role in helping us to deliver a better service by attending our Corporate parenting Board meetings and National benchmarking events.
- You have a right to see the information we keep about you, including the files and records written about you when you were in care. If you would like to access your file then speak you your PA who can support you to do this.
Daily Drop in
Daily Drop In (Monday- Friday)- we offer a daily drop in/duty PA service at our Hub. In the absence of your allocated PA, we can help you with emergencies, or if you are over 21 and wish to re-access the service, Duty PA will offer you an appointment to come in and talk about your needs to re-open your Pathway Plan. There is full access to kitchen facilities including hot food, washing machine and dryer.