Care leavers’ transitions to independence

OK, so I had a pathway plan and a... is it... is it PIP? Yeah, so you call it an independent plan, we call it a Personal Independent Plan; they’re more or less the same, but... yeah. I did have one of them, yes; however, I requested mine to be stopped, which was before I left the... the care team. Does that make sense?

OK. So, you asked them to stop it, but—

Yes.

—what was the reason behind that again?

Because as a kid, I hated interviews; I hated meetings.

So, I did actually have that from the [leaving care scheme], from the age of 16, they did put a plan in for me, but as soon as I turned 18, I’m like, ‘I don’t want it anymore,’ you know? I think I asked for it back because my decisions had changed, and I think it was like a couple of months ago my PA came out and did it with us. I think it was the pathway plan, I’m not 100 percent sure, but yeah, it was something to do with that anyway. But yeah, I... I do know about it.

Yeah, it was like after I left care, I didn’t want anything to do with care, and that included the pathway plan, so anything, absolutely anything at all, even if it was something small, I just didn’t want anything to do with it. But yeah, I just decided in the end it might actually be helpful, so I brought it back, huh.

I guess for the pathway plan specifically, how far do you think your... your wishes were taken into account there?

I think after I left care, they were more listened to, or more respected, and obviously the pathway plan when I was 16, it was their decisions over me, it wasn’t what I wanted to do, so it was like they were gonna say, “Oh, well, gonna move here and do this, and do that,” and it just didn’t reflect any of the decisions I’d made. So I expected that when I was leaving care, so that’s why I cancelled it in the first place and then brought it back. But yeah, I think definitely when I was older, like I brought it back as I was being listened to a lot more.

So, I’ve got a personal advisor now, rather than a social worker, she needs to call me soon actually to update my pathway plan, but I don’t really feel like I’m as aware of it as she is. So, I know that I’m calling her for something called a ‘pathway plan’, but I’m not as like conscious of what it entails.

How helpful do you feel like it is or was?

I mean I don’t really know much about it, so not very.

OK. So, you haven’t filled it out yet, is that what it is?

Maybe, I can’t remember. I don’t see her that often really, I’ve met her once, so I might have, I might not have, I don’t think I have. But it’s come up every now and then. It’s not something that I specifically remember; I couldn’t picture it.

I don’t remember everything, but I do know that I still have a copy of one of my old plans. It was from the Looked After Child Review right before I moved to leaving care, and they mentioned a pathway planning in that, but it was very unclear what their kind of goals were really at that point, ’cause I was still in school, so they were trying to get me through school at that point because I had missed a lot of sixth form and my school was facing threats of closure, so it was really not a great situation. So, they were focusing on trying to get me through that, but then at the same time they were... some of the things they had in that were very interesting. Like they admitted in that review that they were pushing me to have contact with my family, despite me telling them that I didn’t want to. So, there was a lot of interesting things that they were using as like kind of goals to work towards, but it’s - I don’t really remember everything. I think their main point then, was getting me through school and then moving towards semi-independent. ’cause I’d asked to be on a Staying Put with a previous foster parent, but they wouldn’t do it, so I didn’t really know what was going on at the time, it was so poorly handled, where I didn’t really know what we were doing or where things were headed; everything just was kind of happening.

Carer: From Ninna’s perspective, she wasn’t really involved in conversations about what might be a suitable move on for her, and Ninna was always very clear that from the very beginning that she didn’t really want to live in [city],—

Ninna: Yeah.

Carer: —which was her home authority, and that she didn’t really want to move somewhere that there was lots of things that were worrying for her about where she might go and what that would be like, because she’d been in a children’s home for a long time, and I think you knew what was hard about that, didn’t you?—

Ninna: Yeah, yeah.

Carer: So you went on the visit and then just got really, really upset,—

Ninna: Yeah.

Carer: —so upset that they just stopped the visit and then they kind of seemed to then go: ‘oh, gosh, I suppose it might be better if we asked you—

Ninna: [chuckles] Yeah.

Carer: — and involved you a bit more,’ it felt a bit like that, didn’t it?

Ninna: They took a step back, but yeah,—

Carer: Yeah, they took a step back that.

Ninna: —They were like ‘okay, let's leave it ‘til after Christmas,’ so...

Carer: And then they said... well, you know, her birthday wasn’t until [month], so she was perfectly able to stay in the children’s home until [month] anyway without any special issues, you know without any concerns about Ofsted or anything, so... and I think at that point, you and I had had a conversation about maybe you moving back in with me once... and obviously that I would start the assessment process to be care... a Shared Lives carer. So, after my husband died then I said, “Come on, yeah, OK, let’s... let’s have another go at living together.”

Ninna: Yeah.

Carer: And I... but I was living in [county] and Ninna was in [city],  and then it was a bit more smooth, wasn’t it,—

Ninna: Yeah.

Carer: —because there was a plan and Ninna was involved in that plan and wanted that plan.

The pathway planning was good. We did it... I believe it was every six months with my PA, we would have a sit down, talk about what the next steps are, what the... the next project goals were, and how we would go about that. Yeah. I’m going to have like a brief recap of what’s happened in the past six months, and that’ll be updated onto my pathway plan.

OK. And are you happy with how it was looking when you drafted it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100 percent, every time it got redrafted, XXXX, ’cause obviously a lot changes in six months. It was... it looked, yeah, it looked well.

She comes over and she does a pathway plan all the time. I literally filled one out, like, last week again. She is very, very on top of the pathway plans. So, I’ve done them; I’ve done them a lot.

Do you feel like they’re helpful for you?

I think they’re helpful occasionally, but sometimes it’s very much just, like, I haven’t really changed what I’ve wanted to do, so a lot of it is just: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s the same, it’s the same.” I think it’s helped me look at the difference in how I view... what I wanted to do before. Sometimes it does get a little bit boring though, sitting there being like: ‘[sighs] I wanna be... these are the people that matter to me and this is what I wanna do in the future and this is what’s going well at the moment.’ Like, it’s good to bring it to light and show... I think especially the: ‘what am I doing well at the moment,’ that bit makes me feel a lot better. But the stuff to do with jobs and, like, what I wanna go into, a lot of the time it doesn’t really change, so I’m just approving what she’s all... what I’ve already put down.

OK. Well, it sounds like you’re filling out the pathway plans quite frequently.

Yeah, a lot.

OK. And then do you feel like within that pathway plan that they take all of your views and your wishes into account? And you’re able to, you know, voice yourself?

I think so. I don’t know if there’s anything I’d change about it. Maybe add in a little bit about emotional health. ’cause a lot is what’s going well and what’s not going well, but it doesn’t really focus on your emot... It’ll focus on your inspirations or what you wanna do. It doesn’t really focus on, like, mentally-wise, I think. I think a lot of it’s physical on the pathway plan, which I think is important, but also mental health is very important as well and I think it needs to be a little bit more on mental health.

OK. So maybe some kinda emotional support checking as well on the plan?

Yeah, because it’s kind of... it’s a bit difficult to bring up mental health when it’s not mentioned already; like, it feels like an extra barrier to it.

So even though I did have a pathway plan, there was nothing really that could be fulfilled out of that due to my entitlement of being in care. So even though I did have a pathway plan with like my basic details of who I was, my interests and my hobbies, the next steps, which obviously for some people would go in that pathway plan, wouldn’t really have been relevant because I have no choice over that. So, it meant that I was just given to a housing charity, and that was that. So, when it did come time for me to move.

Because of the way things were for me, nothing was prepared. The housing charity didn’t really know my circumstances, so it meant that everything, when I did move, was unsuitable. So, for me, ’cause of my disabilities, I am physically disabled, so I can’t be upstairs – I struggle a lot with stairs – but unfortunately that could not have been considered, due to the law. So, I was very informed, but it didn’t benefit me in any way. It was basically, for me, it was: ‘fend for yourself,’ basically, ‘bye-bye, not much we can do for you now,’ type thing.

All I had was a social worker that I saw every three months, and that was pretty much it,—

OK. So, there was...

—to do her checks and: “How are you, [Daisy]? How’s education?” and then just looking through my pathway plan, and then: “bye-bye, see you in another three months.” So even though I did get check-ins, it was more of a situation where the check-ins were ‘because she has to’, rather than support wise, because her whole, her and her whole team knew that they can’t do nothing for me because of my entitlement.

We... we spoke about a pathway plan, but I never actually got one. I’ve been told I have a pathway plan, and it’s somewhere in my file, but I have never seen it.

Which is something I have brought up a few times. But I never saw it. And from what I’ve heard from other people that I was in the second placement with after I turned 18, none of them had theirs either. And it was very like... it felt like people had done the bare minimum to kind of get us through. Whether they had better things to deal with or they just didn’t have the time, I don’t know, but...

Yeah, I was kind of... I had a brief discussion with someone, and obviously I had kind of the reviews and things like that, and I remember them saying, like: “You can stay here for a little while.” Like: “We’re gonna find somewhere else for you to go because you can’t be by yourself yet,” and stuff like this. And then they said, “Oh...” the children’s home were like: “it’s your social worker’s job to do the pathway plan with you.”

My social worker never did the pathway plan, so the care home kind of did other things to help me, like, transition, but, obviously, they can’t specifically do a plan. And then my social worker said it wasn’t her job and it was the job of the next place I went to. And, basically, people were just, like, handing off responsibility, essentially.

I had a leaving care worker – we made a pathway plan – but the pathway plan didn’t really follow through necessarily because, well, we didn’t expect them to hand notice in when they reduced my care hours in supported accommodation, so then I just was told: “Oh, we’ll find you somewhere within the next couple of weeks,” last minute, but I ended up moving home and then never found anywhere. I had an adult social worker for a year. I’m still under the leaving care team, but in their eyes I’m going to uni in September, so there’s no need to really look into finding me anything at the time, but it has been a year pretty much of living at home because of that.

When I was 17, I was appointed a PA because obviously, you know, it’s like: “Oh, you’re going to be leaving care next year,” etc. They talk about a health pathway family contact to kind of pathway plan education, kind of like: “Is there anything we need to sort out?” The finances, and everything like that. I mean, just because it’s written down and looks very pretty on a document, doesn’t mean it’s always stuck to, but it’s there to reference in theory to make a transition plan.

So, when I moved into supported accommodation, my college was 20 minutes away from there on the bus, so that was really convenient ’cause I was actually already travelling 45 minutes, so it was like: ‘oh, great, you know, that’s just cut half my bus journey off.’ And I’m in Year 13, so I’m in my last year, so I was like: ‘there’s no point moving college,’ and then I literally out of the blue had to move up here and was like: “Erm, OK, what about my education, guys?” I mean, I have a few exams left, so it’s not really a massive concern for me anymore, but there definitely could have been smoother transition, considering my education in the mix as well. I feel like it was more about: ‘we need to find you somewhere to live,’ rather than: ‘we need to meet your day-to-day circumstantial needs.’ Like, you know what I mean? Like: ‘oh, you’ll be fine travelling two hours for six months.’

Yeah, she just asked me: “What do you want?” And stuff. It’s just silly questions. I answered even before she said, “We have to do it every... in six months,” which is, I don’t think that it’s useful. So, I told her the same thing.

Oh, OK, OK. So, is there some way that it could be changed so it is useful for you?

There is nothing that can be changed, because pathway plan means the things that I’ve done before, or it’s a thing that is what I need now and what I need for the future. That’s what it is for, so it doesn’t change.

OK.

Even if it changes, it’s not useful. I don’t find it useful because maybe it is to support us, but for me, coming and asking us every single time, I don’t think it’s useful. They say maybe every six months is fine, but, me, I don’t like it, personally – I get too much question – I don’t like it.

There was a meeting, my final meeting before such... before the pathway, so they told me I will have a PA and sharing a house and there would be a weekly allowance, yeah, that’s it.

OK. And did you go over a pathway plan together?

Yes, the... meeting?

Well... so there is like a... there’s a pathway plan that you should fill out together,—

Uh-huh, yeah.

—and it talks about your, like, what you want to do in your future and what you... what you’d want your goals to be and that kinda thing. Is that... were you able to fill something out together?

Yes, there was  a meeting with... I... my adult and everyone was there.

Oh, OK. So, in the meeting you were talking about it?

Yeah, they ask me and...

OK. And were you happy with it, or did you feel like something... you... they missed something or they could have added some other things?

The thing is I don’t know, I was with my foster, so I don’t know how... how to live by myself and what’s waiting for me. All I was saying is: “Yeah, I want to move, yes, and help me because I don’t know.” I’m telling the truth [laughs].

OK.

Yeah, I don’t know what... what’s waiting for me.

Yeah.

On the things I have to pay, things I have to do by myself; I was not expecting that much.

There was a social worker that carried on. Usually this isn’t a case. The only reason why the social worker carried on post-18 was because the local authority hadn’t done some of their duties. So, they hadn’t updated a pathway plan. They hadn’t updated a PEP, a Personal Education Plan, and things that Ofsted, they kept on saying, “Ofsted, would have said, ‘oh my, God, they weren’t done,’” so that’s the only reason why they asked the social worker to stay on and work with me, and not because of me, because what Ofsted would say to them, if Ofsted came and looked at my file: “Oh, why wasn’t this done before he turned 18?” Other agencies were shocked. My college, when they did the PEP, and they were like: “Oh, why does he need one, he’s over 18 now?” “Oh, we just need it for our file.” Really?

So, as I mentioned, I took legal proceedings about this pathway plan. It’s a basic duty. It’s a basic thing that the local authority should be doing. The social worker drafted a brief one, a very brief, and the minimal contact she’d had with me. My solicitor at the time, legal aid funded, shredded that in a letter of claim and basically said this pathway plan is unlawful, it doesn’t meet the criteria set out in law and she’s quite clearly specified what the law was.

And then the local authority came back and were like: “Yes, it is unlawful,” etc, and they were gonna do it again, and stuff, but every time I’ve had to take legal action to get it updated.

So even now, I don’t have an up-to-date pathway plan. Only last week, or the week before, I’ve emailed to say I don’t even have an up-to-date pathway plan again. ’cause it’s every six months.

They hadn’t done it, and I was asking for it to be done, that’s when I complained again and said, “Every single time you haven’t done it, I’ve had to take legal action, why can’t it just be done ’cause it’s your basic job, that is what PAs should be doing?”

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?