How to better support young people and their families with transitions to adult care: a new evidence summary!
Our new evidence summary explores how young people and their families face significant challenges as they move from children’s to adults’ social care.
Growing up is rarely straightforward, but for young people accessing care and support, it comes with added complexity. As they work out what they want from adult life, they also face important changes to the support systems around them.
The research underlines the need for services to respond more effectively to this critical stage and provide support that meets the needs of individuals and their families.
What are the challenges for young people and their families?
The available research highlights specific areas that cause difficulty during transitions, such as:
- limited access to support
- a lack of clear information
- feeling they’re not listened to.
These issues can leave young people feeling unsure and unsupported at a crucial time in their lives.
Growing up is hard for everyone but for young people who access care and support it can be even more difficult. They're working out the kind of life they want to lead but they're also navigating changes to their care and support
What the evidence tells us
In this summary we look specifically at what research tells us young people and their families say is important for a good transition into adult services. They emphasise that transitions should be shaped around what matters most to the individual.
In the evidence summary we highlight the importance to young people of:
- allowing them to define what a “good life” looks like for them
- helping them to make their own choices
- recognising the value of their relationships
- providing care and support that’s consistent and flexible.
How can transitions be improved?
Some things have been found to support a better experience of transition, these include:
- providing clear, accessible information about the process
- offering reliable and consistent support
- supporting the whole family.
Relationships, community connections and support continuity are identified as key factors that can ease the move into adult services. However, research also identifies the need for better communication from services and more flexible approaches that adapt to individual needs.
What’s next?
Visit: Transitions: perspectives of young people and their families.
This is the first in a series of evidence summaries that look at different aspects of transitions from children’s to adults’ social care services. We’re producing this series in response to our recent research priority setting exercise.
We wanted to find out what barriers, problems and uncertainties young people face as part of transitions from children’s to adults’ social care.
We’ll be publishing more evidence summaries covering other aspects about transitions soon. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels to find out more.