Until the age of 18, services for children and young people with long-term health conditions are provided by child health and social care services. From 18, they’re usually provided by adult services. Between the ages of 14 and 18, a child will start a transition to adult services. This should involve all the services that support areas like:

• health and social care
• mental health
• education
• financial benefits for the young person and their family
• work
• housing

Planning for this transition should begin when a child is in year 9 at school (13 or 14 years old) at the latest. Transition should be an ongoing process rather than a single event and it should be tailored to suit a child’s needs. More information around preparing for adulthood can be found on our SEND Local Offer website.

The Transitions Adult Social Care service (previously known as Preparing for Adulthood Team), part of Adult Social Care, is a Devon county-wide social care team, working with many partners and guided by the Care Act principles (see also Care Act – easy read guidance)

We will engage with young people, families, carers, and supporting agencies to empower young people to fully realise their potential and opportunities in adulthood, to become as independent, self-reliant and confident as possible.

The vision of the Transitions Adult Social Care (TASC) service is to improve our service to better support young people to transition to adulthood.

The mission of the TASC service is to:

• ensure people understand how our service works, and support to access the right advice and information
• Commissioning services to give young people the best opportunities to thrive at home
• Support the right young people, at right time, to the right service, to support them to live well.
• Give staff the right tools, resources and training to help support young people within a sustainable LA budget

The outcomes of the TASC service is to:

• Easily refer and know our outstanding transitions service offer.
• Empower young people to achieve their goals
• Innovate how we share information to all who support young people
• Improve data to inform, innovate and grow young peoples housing, market & employment opportunities
• Improve partnerships at every opportunity
• Ensure the voice of young people is heard through co-design
• Create a skilled and committed workforce

Get support from the TASC service

If you are a young person between the ages of 12 and 18, a carer, parent, or professional seeking support from the TASC service, you should first complete our referral form. The form can be completed by a young person themselves or by anyone that has gained consent from the young person or their family.

Complete the preparing for adulthood referral form

Please be aware that the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) applies to all people aged 16 and over. Considering the MCA will support you to clarify who can consent to a preparing for adulthood referral.

If the referred person is over 16 and they have mental capacity, they can consent to this referral. If they are over 16 but lack capacity to consent to this referral, the MCA states the decision must be made in their best interests.

If you have any questions about making a referral to the Preparing for Adulthood Team, the services we provide, or wider questions about adult social care please call us on 01392 381 291 or email us at preparingforadulthoodsecure-mailbox@devon.gov.uk for an informal chat.

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What happens next

A worker from our team will then contact you and may complete a Care Act assessment of your needs. This will tell you if you are likely to receive services from adult social care in the future. If you have an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) then we may also attend your review meetings.

We can also have an informal conversation about services in your area which may be helpful. If you are likely to be eligible for support from social care post 18 years old, we will maintain contact with you on a yearly basis just to see how things are going.

When you turn 16 years old, we may increase our contact with you and will look to complete our independence toolkit which identifies goals of independent living that you may wish to develop. This may lead to a referral to our Reaching for Independence service which can work with you to achieve some of these goals in your 17^th year.

We may also implement some technology aids such as Brain in Hand, or AutonoMe where this is suitable. The workers may also recommend and complete referrals for carers assessments for family members or others who support the young person

It can be important to understand that the Team does not hold case responsibility for young people, as under the Children and Families Act 2014 this remains with children’s agencies until the age of 18.

Helpful tools

Below are some useful links and tools that the team has put together to help you learn more about how to prepare for adult life and the skills you may need.

• The Independence Toolkit will help you think about the types of skills that you might need for adulthood. It is a useful way to track your progress in learning new skills, record achievements and recognise things that you may find more challenging. It can also help you to navigate the transitions between services. This could mean moving from school to college, moving between social care and health services or even finding your own place to live.
• Decision-making toolkit – this document, produced by the Council for Disabled Children, supports young people’s decision-making with practical tools and a best-interest decision-making tool.
• The Developing Independence Checklist leaflet is a visual tool using small drawings and symbols to explain some of the skills that you might need to develop when preparing for adult life.
• National Preparing for Adulthood website – Preparing for Adulthood is a national organisation that works to ensure that young people with SEND achieve paid employment, independent living, good health, friendships, relationships and community inclusion.
• The Intensive Assessment and Treatment Team can provide specialist health support for people with learning disabilities and their families.
• The Learning Disability Devon website contains useful information about preparing for adulthood in an easy read format.
• Devon Information and Advice Service (DiAS) has a dedicated team offering legally based and easily accessible information and advice about special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). They support parents, carers, children and young people with SEND and our service is impartial and confidential.
• Dimensions for Autism is a group based in Devon that supports adults on the autistic spectrum who do not have a learning disability. They’ve produced a guide to services for autistic adults, their families, friends and carers.