Support offered
Your leaving care worker is there to make sure that you always have someone you can contact to sort out any problems when you leave care.
You'll be allocated your Leaving Care Worker from the age of 16, if you are already looked after. We never give up on you and want you to achieve your aspirations.
Our support will be explained to you and is in the Derbyshire leaving care local offer document, but it includes:
- social activities to help you meet other young people who are leaving or who have already left care
- help to find accommodation when the time is right to leave care
- help to achieve your aspirations
- help with cooking and the practical things you need to know
- help with filling in forms
- help to put you in contact with organisations and specialist services
- help to cope with the many unexpected things that can pop up when you live on your own
- support into education or employment via university, apprenticeships, or a work experience qualification
- help you with your personal and family relationships
- to be there for you, and never give up on you
How much contact you have depends on how much you need. But as a minimum your worker will see you every 8 weeks unless we both agree otherwise. When you first leave care though, you could be seeing each other several times a week.
We'll only pass on basic information to other organisations such as name and date of birth unless you tell us that you do not want us to do so. Your leaving care worker will discuss which organisation might need to be involved and will seek your views on sharing information.
If you have more questions, you can contact the leaving care service in your area or your social worker.
Getting help
When you reach 15 and a half, your social worker will automatically refer you to the leaving care team covering the area where you live.
By 16, your social worker will have completed your pathway plan with you. This covers how you plan to lead your adult life and how you can be helped to get ready for this. It also includes issues like how you manage your money, how you can get help with your health, where you plan to live and what are your intentions about education, employment, and training. You will meet with your leaving care worker shortly after your 16th birthday.
Other people will be involved in this too - your carers and key worker, the Virtual School, and others - to help you to draw up the best possible plan to help you into adulthood. Usually, the leaving care worker will be your main worker after 18.
Pathway plan
A pathway plan covers:
- accommodation and housing issues
- personal support
- education training and work issues
- health and development
- life skills
- financial issues
In the few months before you reach 16 your social worker will get together with you and your carers to work out what needs to go into your pathway plan.
You'll be fully involved in this process to ensure that what goes into the plan is what you want in it. The pathway will help set out what you want to happen and who will help you achieve it. You will have one until at least the age of 21.
Staying close
For some young people, we're currently offering additional support prior to leaving care, to young people leaving residential care or supported accommodation, giving them the opportunity to stay close and connected to the people, communities and services that are important to them.
Staying Close Derbyshire is a joint approach between Derbyshire Leaving Care Service and The DECC (Action for Children). Our specialist Staying Close workers work closely with lead therapeutic practitioners from Action for Children, to ensure a trauma-informed approach is embedded across all that they do. Information about this is attached to this webpage. We will speak to you directly about this if it applies to you.
Contact us
Currently, we have 2 leaving care service offices which are open from 9am to 5pm, where you'll always be warmly welcomed.
Chesterfield
The Pod
Hunloke Avenue
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S40 2NT
Freephone number for young people, telephone: 08081 961750.
Office telephone: 01629 532755.
Ilkeston
46 - 47 Bloomsgrove Road
Ilkeston
DE7 8DQ
Freephone number for young people, telephone: 08081 961751.
Office telephone: 01629 532706.