Outreach support for young people in care transitioning to independence or returning to live with their birth parents: experiences and outcomes

In 2015 the Department for Education’s Innovation Programme awarded North Yorkshire County Council funding to develop an initiative called No Wrong Door. The No Wrong Door innovation aims to provide an integrated service for... [ view full abstract ]

In 2015 the Department for Education’s Innovation Programme awarded North Yorkshire County Council funding to develop an initiative called No Wrong Door. The No Wrong Door innovation aims to provide an integrated service for young people, aged 12 to 25 who are in care, on the edge of care or leaving care (i.e. transitioning to adulthood). The service aspires to ensure that young people’s needs are addressed within a single team and operates from two ‘hubs’. Each hub has a team that consists of: a manager, deputy managers, residential hub workers (i.e. carers), portfolio leads, a life coach (i.e. clinical psychologist) and a communication support worker (i.e. speech and language therapist). Young people also have an allocated key worker. In addition, the service brings together a variety of accommodation options (including residential placements at the hub, foster placements, supported lodgings and accommodation, and bespoke packages) and outreach support is provided to young people living with their birth families (but on the edge of care), with foster carers or independently as care leavers. It is anticipated that this integrated approach will improve outcomes for young people and ensure that they are not referred from service to service.

No Wrong Door is currently being evaluated by the Centre for Child and Family Research at Loughborough University, England. The evaluation aims to measure changes and improvements in young people in the following indicators: accommodation stability; engagement and achievements in education, training and employment; criminal activity; high risk behaviours; relationships with others; planning of transitions from care to independent living; resilience, self-esteem and wellbeing; and access to support in a crisis.

A mixed method approach has been adopted and includes face-to-face interviews with service users (i.e. young people and their families) and No Wrong Door staff; and anonymous quantitative data routinely collated by the No Wrong Door service.

This paper will focus on the experiences of older young people and their transition to independent/semi-independent living or return to birth parents. Information presented will be based on anonymous quantitative data and interviews with young people, birth parents, and key workers.

Data is currently being collated and this paper will cover how young people were supported during their transition and focus on the outreach support provided by their key worker (and where appropriate the life coach and communications worker) and in particular how this has impacted on: their engagement in education/employment, risky behaviours, accommodation stability, relationships with others and overall wellbeing.