What happens when you turn 18
When you turn 18, you will no longer have a social worker. We'll allocate you a personal adviser (PA) who will become your main worker until you’re 21, or up to 25 in some circumstances.
Leaving care
We have a legal duty to support you in making the transition from care into adulthood and independent living.
You're a care leaver if you are aged 16 to 25 and were in care for at least 13 weeks in total between the ages of 14 and 16 (including your 16th birthday).
Find out if you are a care leaver.
Leaving care service
Our leaving care service has 4 teams.
All teams have:
- a team manager
- personal advisers
- social workers
- admin support.
Within the service we also have an aspirations officer who can help with finding a job, a college or university course or training opportunities.
We also have a housing adviser who will work with you and your PA to secure your own home and help you to navigate the processes of moving on to independent living.
Our parent support practitioner can work with you if you're a parent. They can offer advice and guidance as well as fun groups with other parents.
We also have a:
- Medway Council Corporate Parenting Board
- director and assistant director of children’s services
- head of service for corporate parenting
- service manager of the 16+ service.
Your personal adviser
When you transfer to the leaving care service from another children’s service, we'll allocate you a personal adviser. We'll continue to support you until you're 21, or 25 if you're in full-time education or if you have support needs and want to stay involved.
Your personal adviser will keep in contact, ensure you have an up-to-date pathway plan that shows what support is available to you, and visit you at home and in the community.
If you're a former relevant care leaver and ask for support, we can support you up to your 25th birthday.
If you choose to end support with the service but need advice or help in the future, you can contact us. We may allocate you a personal adviser, or offer advice and signpost you to support available from other services.
You can contact us to discuss your needs even if you have not worked with us recently.