Your future – preparation for adulthood

We will do an assessment and work with you to create a plan. This is called your pathway plan.

Your pathway plan is about your needs and what we all need to do to ensure your successful transition to adult life. You will continue to have a pathway plan until you're 21.

There are different areas that will be covered in your pathway plan, these include:

• a safe, suitable and stable home in adulthood
• your health and wellbeing
• your identity, family and relationships
• your independence and life skills
• securing an income and being money wise
• your education, employment and training

Your plan your life

For your pathway plan to be effective it will be based on an up to date needs assessment (an assessment we carry out to find out what support you need). It will set out the support that will be offered to you to achieve your aspirations. We aim to fully involve you in the development of your pathway plan. It's really important that you contribute. Remember this is your plan so get involved, the plan will confirm what support will be provided so remember to ask for a copy.

Working together

Your pathway plan is written by your personal adviser after consultation with you and important people in your life. It sets out your needs, views and future goals, and identifies exactly what support you will receive from us.

Reviews

We will review your pathway plan with you regularly so that it is kept up-to-date. We must review your plan every 6 months, or earlier if there is a change of circumstance like moving into different accommodation.

We're developing a new way to support you in developing interdependence and life skills in 2025. This will be called 'Leaving Well'.

We'll work with you, your carers and others that are important to you. We'll also give you the opportunity to meet other care leavers to share experiences and support each other.

To help you prepare for living independently and managing your own tenancy, you can continue to access the ASDAN Living Independently short course. Your personal adviser or social worker will be able to give you more information on this.

The ASDAN-Living Independently book covers areas such as:

• earning and spending money
• keeping track of your money
• making financial choices
• a place of your own
• health and wellbeing
• cooking on a budget
• practical cooking skills
• career management
• preparing for the world of work

Once completed, the work you have done is accredited and you will get a certificate. Ask your social worker or personal adviser for more details.

Having support from people who are important to you, like family members, friends, or professionals, can help when you are leaving care. There are services that can support you to contact these people and bring them together to make a plan to support you, as part of your pathway plan.

Having a plan of who can help and support you can help to prevent feeling lonely and you will know who you can contact if you need to and who will stay in touch with you.

Visit the relationships and community page to find out more about:

• Lifelong Links - If you have lost contact with family or other people who are important to you
• Family group conference – to set up a meeting with people who are important to you, to create a plan of support around you