Charlotte

It would have been when I was 16, I think I got a PA when I was six... no, I think I got a PA when I was 17 and they started telling me about the fact that I would have a pathway plan, but I don’t think they had made it yet, and they... I don’t really know what they told me about leaving care to be honest, I think they just said that they’re there and they’ll, like, see me, after I don’t have a social worker anymore.

OK. So, did you feel like you had it... like, were you able to ask questions?  Were they open to a conversation?  I mean, what kind of things did you discuss?

Yeah, the first PA that I had she was really nice and she let me ask questions, but at that time I was really unwell and I was in hospital a lot, so that was more like the prior... priority.

What I know about it is it’s like... I think it’s, like, meant to have information about you and your needs and your, like, goals, and it’s meant to help you transition to adulthood. And how I found it was... Though I didn’t really know what it was or what the point of it was for the first few years of having one, and I didn’t see how it was helpful in any way, but now I feel like I understand what it is a bit more, but I still don’t really see the point of it; I don’t think it’s helpful.

I hate how all of the questions are, like: what do you think about this, or what are your goals in life, or how do you feel like your life is going at the moment ’cause I have no idea what to say to any of those questions ever. So... and it’s always written on my plan: my PA doesn’t know what to say,” and it’s like what’s the point of that?

Yeah, when I was, like, nearly 17 and a half, ’cause I lived in a children’s home and they move everyone out at 17 and a half, they... in the children’s home they would encourage me to do things like cooking and they had some, like, courses, like, about budgeting and money and things like that. And they offered to let me move into... In the home, they had, like, a little flat downstairs, so it was kind of separate to the rest of the house, and they wanted me to move there to, like, prepare for being more independent, but I didn’t want to go into there anyway.

I think one of the things I found really hard was, like, doing a food shop, ’cause it sounds really easy, but I would never know how much to buy or what prices were reasonable, and things like that, and I feel like if I’d done more food shops before I went to living by myself it would have helped a lot.

They, like, told us how to compare prices, but I didn’t know how much things were really, so if something was more expensive, I wouldn’t really know what it was normally like anyway, if that makes sense?

I feel like there should be... they should definitely be told by their PA, and the PA should have a better knowledge of the care offer in that area, and any changes that is made to it. But because it’s such a big... the care offer is such a big document, it should be, like, provided to care leavers, but maybe in a more, like, young person-friendly language – still with it being, like, legally correct –but maybe more like young person-friendly so they’re more likely to read it and understand it.

I’ve seen... I don’t think I’ve seen the legal policy, but I’ve been told what is on the legal policy and how that changes to the one that I’ve been shown which is like a young person-friendly one. But the one that... I don’t know about now, but the one, like, a few months ago that they were showing us that was like young person-friendly, it missed out a lot of specifics, so it wasn’t, like, very clear or where you stand legally. So it wasn’t that helpful.

Yeah, I would say I know quite a lot about it only because in the, like, participation groups, we do a lot of work on improving it and making it more understandable. I know even though I do that, I still... still find it quite confusing ’cause I feel like every person I speak to has different rules about it. But I know that in my County you get a free gym membership, you get a free air fryer, there’s the Setting Up Home Allowance which is £2,000, and you get things like... Because I’m at uni I get extra support, but because I’m doing nursing, it’s made it really confusing because it’s not like nursing has a really different timetable compared to normal uni courses, so it’s made that really confusing.

And there’s things that I know in the like, local care offer they have, like signposting to other services like CAMHS Care Leavers, which even though it’s run by CAMHS, it’s commissioned for up to 25’s and signposting to other health services.

The care offer is such a big document, it should be, like, provided to care leavers, but maybe in a more, like, young person-friendly language – still with it being, like, legally correct –but maybe more like young person-friendly so they’re more likely to read it and understand it.

It doesn’t state what you’re legally entitled to compared to what you’re just offered, but it’s not a legal entitlement.

Well, when I finish uni I’ll be a qualified nurse, so hopefully I’ll get a job as a nurse. And yeah, I’ll just, I don’t know, live life being a nurse.

OK. Or do you have a... do you have, like, a speciality right now in nursing or...?

I’m doing children’s, but I don’t know what area of children’s I will go into.

And were you able to see the place before you moved into it or...?

Yeah, but after I saw it, they wanted to... me to move in, in like a week, which was really soon in my opinion. Especially as I’m autistic, I need more time for big changes.

Oh, OK. So maybe they could have been more accommodating by telling you earlier so you can kinda prepare yourself?

Yeah.

I see, OK. So, they left... they, sort of, showed you the place you’re going to move to, left about a week or so before they moved you into there, so what happened after that?

So, I moved to a semi-independent placement and I hated it. I found it really hard living there. The staff were pretty much useless, like they... they didn’t do anything to help me at all. They wouldn’t talk to me. They wouldn’t say hello to me a lot of the time, so I just had to just learn to do everything by myself, and I found it really hard, but eventually I did it.

OK. And you’ve moved since then or...?

Yeah, I stayed there for, like, a year and a half, two years maybe, and then I moved to a flat which was owned by the same company so, like, I had a support worker come into my flat, and I was there for about a year, and since I moved into just like a council flat.

Between school to college I think my PA was quite supportive. Actually, no, she wasn’t. I think mental health services were more supportive because they knew it was a big change. And my school, I don’t really know. I think they were just sick of me ’cause I just never went in, so they didn’t really care. And when I started college, my tutor was really nice, so she was quite supportive, which was good.

It was definitely more like I was given more independence than when I was at school, but I feel like at that time I was ready for an education, and I didn’t find it too much of a difference. So yeah, and ’cause I was on... I was doing less than... like, I was in less lessons than the rest of my year because I’d already done, like, half the course, that made it easier.

I feel like there should be... they should definitely be told by their PA, and the PA should have a better knowledge of the care offer in that area, and any changes that is made to it. But because it’s such a big... the care offer is such a big document, it should be, like, provided to care leavers, but maybe in a more, like, young person-friendly language – still with it being, like, legally correct –but maybe more like young person-friendly so they’re more likely to read it and understand it.