Bournemouth’s looked after young people will get their first taste of living independently thanks to a pilot scheme, RIGHT2BECARED4.

Bournemouth’s Children’s Social Care has launched a brand new training flat funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, RIGHT2BECARED4 Grant which aims to give looked-after young people aged 16 to 18 years-old a trial run at living independently.

The furnished one-bedroom training flat in North Bournemouth is leased by the Council and has been open since January 2008 with the aim for 12 young people per year to benefit from the facility.

The young people will be consulted about the level of professional support they need during their stay which can be up to 3 weeks, with the opportunity to stay more than once to increase and develop their skills. They are also provided with an Independent Living folder containing advice and guidance for their stay and where they will record their achievements and use as evidence to show they understand and are capable of living independently.

Councillor Malcolm Davies, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services said: “The experience is designed to help looked after young people and professionals to assess their level of independence and highlight where they may need extra assistance before they make the move into full independent living once they are 18-years old.”

Martin Taylor, Service Manager for Children’s Social Care added: “So far, we’ve had one young person who has used the flat and has now gone on to successfully become a tenant in Bournemouth. Another young person who used the flat decided afterwards, they were not quite ready for independent living. The benefit of the training flat is that we can give the youngsters the support and encouragement that they need in order for them to make that transition into independence.”

Notes

RIGHT2BECARED4 is an initiative, underpinned by a grant from government to improve the life chances of children and young people in care. Bournemouth was selected, along with a number of other local authorities to pilot this work.

Bournemouth’s RIGHT2BECARED4 pilot scheme involves four main projects:

• Bournemouth Children’s Social Care has a successful joint advocacy service with Borough of Poole for children and young people from the age of 8-18 years. Through the RIGHT2BECARED4 grant an advocacy service was launched at the end of April 2008 offering advocacy support to young adults/care leavers after the age of 18.

• Work is underway to ensure that the reviews of foster carers are independently and rigorously carried out to ensure that foster carers meet the introduction of the National Good Practice guidelines, Occupational Standards for Foster Carers. The aim is to increase participation, provide greater stability of placements and enhance the matching of needs between children, young people and foster carers.

• A participation worker will be appointed to further develop the culture of children’s participation in a whole range of activities including the recruitment and selection of staff to allow young people to help shape and develop the service they use.