On Thursday 6th February 2020 we took part in the preparing for Adulthood workshop at Stourbridge family centre. Carol Robinson, the Preparing for Adulthood Advisor for the West Midlands and South West, opened the session. In this workshop we covered the different aspects of what preparing for adulthood includes, such as employment, independent living, community inclusion and health. The event was attended really well with lots of decision maker there to hear the voices of young people, parent carers, teacher from schools, post 16 provision and services that provide care or support to either children, young people or young people and adults with an additional need.

The first half of the morning we were shown a PowerPoint about what preparing for adulthood should look like.

Employment fits into Preparing for adulthood because it gives a person more independence and makes them feel part of the community. 65% of people with an additional need would like to be in full-time paid work, but at the moment there are only 6% in paid work, with some of them only working for a few hours each week. The 6% that are employed could be increased if employers had a better understanding and organisations were able to offer the right support to help people find and keep appropriate jobs. Moving

forward, access to support that helps a young person get a job or work experience which could lead to full-time paid work needs to be built into their EHC Plan, this would enable the young person to get the right support for when they are preparing for adulthood.

Education also has a very big part to play in preparing for adulthood for our young people. For this to work in the right way the education provision needs to be able to offer the right support at the right time. Staff need to be able to access the right training. Schools that have our young people in their care need to start taking responsibility for supporting our young people to become more independent. In Wolverhampton, back in 2015, they launched a

Supporting Employment Pathway.

Housing/Independent Living: There is currently a national housing crisis; young people are finding it increasingly difficult to find and afford their own homes and the process is longer and slower. This is because there are lots of options, but they are not all accessible to individuals. Some school and colleges don’t think that it is their responsibility even at secondary school level to enable young people to be ready for adulthood and more independent. There is some good practice around learning independent skills, but this is not across the board; we need to help our young people make and build

positive friendship groups. This can also help our young people build up the courage and confidence

to be able to give back to their community which plays a big part in them becoming independent. There is growing evidence which shows social isolation is bad for health.

Health: as adult, young people with SEND experience major health inequalities and these lead to people have a shorter life expectancy than the rest of the population and many people are dying prematurely from preventable conditions. One of the problems is that there is little or non-effective monitoring in health information systems so problems with accessing healthcare are not picked up. One of the best ways to prevent health conditions going undiagnosed is to ensure that young people aged 14-18 (and beyond) are having the annual health checks that they are entitled to. However, there is a low take up on health checks for 14-18 years old, so we need to encourage more young people to take up these checks and we should be helping young people to understand their health in a better way.

The North Star

For the rest of the day, Barry Jones and Jon Ralph facilitated a PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope). Professionals, parent carers and young people worked together to map out and plan what we would like Dudley to look like in the future for our children and young people and adults with SEND.

For this task we broke off into small groups around the room to discuss a number of questions: the first question we were asked to discuss as a group was ‘what is your North Star’ - we were asked to dreaming big and share what our best look likes. Answers included -

A suitable home. No exclusions in mainstream school. Mainstream school need to be made aware of the support that is needed for young people

with an additional need. Offering more full-time jobs. Making sure that they feel like they are being listened to. Everyone has a healthy friendship group. Everyone working together. Everyone has the same training, so we all work off the same page. Better mental health and wellbeing and physical health. To enable our children, young people and adults to be more active. To enable our children, young people and adults to have the chance to give back to their

community. To let our young people to fail but to make sure that there is the right support there for

them, so they feel safe and able to try again when they feel ready.

Following this we moved onto “positive’s” and “what’s possible” for where we would like to see Dudley in 2023; this was where we spoke about how achievable the aims identified in our North Star were and how possible they are; if they were achieved how positive it would be.

Tell you once - case officers who work with the families, know them well, so they don’t have to keep telling their stories.

Professionals know and believe in the families that they work with. Services would be centred around the whole family. To have more young people attending events or workshops to have their voices heard, and

for the right support to be in place to enable this to happen. All EHC plans to be completed and up-to-date and to include the family in this process. To have more suitable housing with the right support for that individual. For all staff in schools working with or supporting a student with an additional need to all

have the same training. There to be no Year 11 exclusions. This can be mentored though evaluation forms. For there to be more opportunities for young people to be able to experience work

experience. To have more mentorship in the workplace that provides support to co-workers who maybe

looked after young person or may have an additional need. For services to go to the families instead of expecting the families to travel to them,

especially if the child, young person or adult finds it difficult to go to these places. For there to be more full-time jobs available for those who want them.

The next stage we went on to talk about was how do we keep strong in this process as there are a lot of changes that need to take place in Dudley to make it better for these families, child ,young people and adults; also not forgetting the professional.

We all need to be brave. We all need to be patient and support each other. Be Accountable so not saying you will do something for a family and not doing it. If you

can’t keep to a timeline you have set to complete the task for a family, to get in contact with that family, and let them know what is going on and why you are not able to do this, so you are keeping that good relationship with the families that you are working with.

For everyone to work together. For there to be a clear goal for everyone to work towards and for everyone to remember

what they are doing and who they are doing it for. For the local authority to invest in the right training. For there to be good communication. To be a strong advocate for children, young people and adults that need their voices to be

heard. To make more jobs in the SEND team permanent but to get the right people that are going

to stay. For the local authority to review their policy.

The final stage of the day was talking about what we are doing well in Dudley at the moment and the things that we are not doing well.

The good things that we are doing in Dudley at the moment are:

Early years – early help in Dudley are doing some amazing working. All our schools are either good or outstanding. We have good communities within Dudley that want to make a change. Some families are getting their voices heard. Apprenticeships are been made available for care leavers within Dudley. The parent carer forum is doing some amazing work and can co-produce some really good

work with the local authority. When a family has the right EHC plan, a good SENO and a good advocate they can make

magic happen.

Things that are not so good in Dudley at the moment are: When a family doesn’t have the right EHC plan, a good SENO or the right advocate in place

it’s rubbish for them. Staff are coming and going so families don’t have much faith or trust in them. There isn’t the right equipment for staff or families. Not all providers give their staff the right training. The Local offer is not accessible to all - the Information is hard to find. Information isn’t easy to find. There is a lack of provision for people post-25. There is a lack of suitable respite, provisions and services. Not everyone fits the box that needs to tick so they are not getting the right support that

they need. In Dudley we have low aspiration for our young people.

Initial feedback from parent carers and young people who attended this event was really positive. The Local Authority and the CCG have pledged to continue working in partnership with parent carers and young people to make preparation for adulthood the best it can possibly be.

Report prepared by Lori Arthurs February 2020