Identity: Support for young people leaving care

Your experiences, your care journey and your plans and dreams are all uniquely yours.

One of our most important goals is to make sure that as you move into your independent adult life, you do it fully understanding your past and feeling really proud of who you are and what you have achieved.

Your social care records

Young people are able to request access to all of the records and information that Children's Social Care have about them.

This is often called ‘accessing your records’ or a ‘subject access request’.

We believe that every young person who accesses their records should be offered the right support to make sure that they understand the information and can ask questions.

Your pathway plan should outline the support that you want and need, if you are accessing your records.

For more information on accessing your records you can email sarw@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk or phone 020 8831 6328.

Information we keep about you

You have a right to see the information we keep about you, including the files and records written about you when you were in care.

When you are close to your 18th birthday, your social worker should make sure that you have your folder of key information, including your health records and the records of your Children Looked After (CLA) review meetings from the past.

Understanding your journey in care

You can get support to help you understand who you are and your journey in care.

Your personal adviser and your social worker can help you to do this. Before you turn 18, your social worker will help you to get important identification documents, such as a birth certificate, passport and/or provisional driving licence, and national insurance number.

If you are 18 and above, and do not have these important identification documents, your personal adviser will assist you in getting these. You can use your pathway plan to organise this.

Family connections

We know that family connections and support networks are a big part of somebody’s identity.

We can refer all young people to our Lifelong Links service, who can contact and help you meet with people from your life who are important to you. We can also organise a family meeting at any point that you want one, to help you strengthen your relationships with your family or your support network.

Finances and funding

Sometimes, to access or apply for certain funding or bursaries or to get specific help and support from college, university, housing departments and employers, you might need a letter confirming that you are a care leaver. We will always provide you with letters if you need or ask for them.

We offer all young people aged 18 to 21 a £20 per month wellbeing allowance which you can use for any positive hobby or wellbeing activity - this could be the gym, a class, hobby costs or memberships and we pay this provided you request it in your pathway plan and provide evidence of expenditure.

We will also provide you with a £25 gift and a £50 food voucher which you can use to celebrate a festival of your choice to support your religious or cultural identity.

We provide you with £50 birthday allowances when you turn 18, £25 on your 19th and 20th Birthdays and £75 on your 21st birthday to help you celebrate.

British citizenship

We will fund the cost of one ‘Life in the UK Test’ for any young person who needs to take it.

We will also pay 50% of the British citizenship fee for anyone under 21 who is working with their personal adviser and their pathway plan. For young people aged 21 to 25 we will provide a £200 contribution towards the cost.

Events

We run events through the year to celebrate different cultures, identities and achievements including Black History Week, International Women’s Day, Pride, Christmas, Eid, Lunar New Year and many others.

We also celebrate National Care Leaver’s Week and hold an annual celebration event called the ‘Glow Awards’ where we celebrate everyone’s individual achievements. All care experienced young people are invited to it!

Activities

We have lots of opportunities for you to become involved with events, activities and celebrations specifically for care experienced young people.

We also provide groups and activities where care experienced young people can socialise and make friendships with people who share their identity as ‘care leavers’.

We refer young people to national care leaver organisations and charities and we encourage them to explore their identity as a care leaver.

Young parents

For young parents who are care experienced, we run a weekly group called ‘Future Tots’ where parents can come together, play, learn and support each other.

Immigration and asylum

For young people who have come to the UK seeking asylum, we work with the Virtual School to provide support groups. The groups help young people to socialise, learn and support each other.

We will also financially support any young person with immigration and asylum issues who has not yet had a decision from the Home Office about their claim.

Care influencers

We have care leaver influencers who support the managers and politicians to understand what it is like to be a care leaver and how to make support services better. Any young person who has a personal adviser can apply to be an influencer! Influencers are paid for their time.