Moving from children’s services to adult services

Before your child is 18, their support is usually arranged through your local council’s Children’s Services. As your child gets older there will come a time when their support moves from Children’s Services to Adult Services.

This change usually happens on their 18th birthday. But there will be a period of at least two  years before they turn 18, when work is done to prepare for this change.

This period of overlap between the services, and the communication involved, is called the Transition period.

Transition can sometimes be a challenging process as things are changing, but there is lots of support to help you and your child navigate your way through.

As your child grows up, there will be lots of aspects of their life that you will need to think about. This might include:

• what they would like to do when they leave school
• their options of further education, work, or apprenticeships
• changes in benefits
• what support they and you need
• what can be expected from a legal point of view.

This page focuses on how the Transition should be managed to maintain the support your child needs. You can find other helpful resources at the bottom of this page to guide you about other parts of their life.

When should I start thinking about the Transition from children’s to adult services?

Moving from children’s to adult services takes at least two years to plan. Children’s and adult’s service workers must have some overlap during the transition period.

Adult services must know your child is coming, and you must know who you will be working with.

You may already have a Child’s Plan in place and be familiar with the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) model of working.

If not, please ask your child’s school about it. GIRFEC is the way to bring professionals together to plan for your child.

The professionals from adult services must be invited to attend the Child’s Plan meetings at least one year in advance of them leaving school. It is vital that adult services professionals attend the Child’s Plan meetings and have enough notice to ensure your child’s support continues as smoothly as possible.

To attend the meeting one year in advance, those who need to be involved must be identified, invited to it, and have confirmed their attendance. This can take time, which is why it is helpful to start the conversation and transition planning early.

Some say it is never too early to start discussing next steps.

The professional contact you deal with in children’s services should be able to find out who the contact will be in adult services. If they do not know, it is their job to find out.

Your Lead Professional (the main person you deal with about your Child’s Plan) should make sure all this happens.

Parents and children should have met the professionals they are going to be involved with in adult services before their 18th birthday.

If this is not happening, you can contact the professionals, or get support from an advocacy organisation to help you. You can find your local advocacy service here.

What might my child need support with as they become an adult?

As your child prepares to leave school and move from children’s to adult services, decisions will have to be made. This includes what they want to do next and what types of support they need in future to enable them to fulfil their potential.

Like with any young person, it is important for you and your child to think about what they would like to do as they get older. This includes exploring what options are available to them when they leave school.

If you and your child have a plan of what to do, this will make moving on a lot easier. It can be a really exciting time to explore what is out there and what is possible.

Those involved in the Child’s Plan meetings can help you find out what exists and can help you explore options. Speaking to the careers adviser in school may also be helpful.

Researching yourself, discussing possibilities with your child and speaking to other parents can help you see what is possible.

All of this takes time, so the sooner you spend some time thinking about it and discussing it with your child, the better.

Questions you might want to think about are:

• Will your child go to work, go to college, university, voluntary work, apprenticeship or other training programme?
• What support is needed for your child to do what they want?
• Will you and your child want to manage their own support, or might they go somewhere that has support already in place?
• Do you need to visit places to see if they are appropriate for your child? If so, this should be in the transition plan.
• Will anything need to be adapted? If so, this must be considered at least two years in advance, especially if building work must be done like adding a hoist or creating a suitable bathroom.
• What training might be needed for staff in your child’s place of work or study?
• Does anyone from the college/ university/ workplace your child is interested in, need to be invited to the Child’s Plan meeting to discuss the support they may need and how it can work.

Where can I get help with all this?

Sometimes there can be a lot to think about and it might be hard to know where to start.

You can look online for ideas, talk to other parents, get in contact with places for more information, ask the professionals involved to help.

Often parents and their child can find the solutions that suit them best, and work with the professionals to get them in place.

You might also want to talk to an Independent Support Organisation who can help you and your child think about what they want to do when they get older, and the support they might need.

You can find details for these organisation using the Find Help search tool.

Next steps

Take a look at the Resources section below for more help and advice around Transition.