Always talk to someone you really trust before you make any big decision about your future.

Why is this important?

Too many young people ‘leave care’ at too young an age, often when they don’t feel really ready to take big steps into the world. Having your own place, living on your own, paying your own bills, taking full responsibility for yourself often sounds like a great idea when you’re a teenager. However, it can also be really difficult to manage these new responsibilities when you’re still doing a lot of your ‘growing up’ and maybe lack the confidence, support, life skills… and money… to live more independently. It’s worth knowing that in Scotland, most young people don’t leave home until they are in their mid-20’s. Continuing care is designed to give you more time and space to develop the confidence and skills to manage independent life as a young adult when you do feel ready.

What is Continuing Care?

Young people who are ‘looked after away from home’ - living with foster carers, kinship carers or in residential care – on or after their 16th birthday have legal rights and entitlements to stay in the same place, (‘stay put’), with their same carers up until their 21st birthday. Before your 18th birthday, you should be under no pressure or expectation to ‘leave care’ (for example when someone under 18 stops being legally looked after under a Supervision Order) if you don’t want to or you don’t feel ready to. And you should be under no pressure or expectation to leave where you are living if you are under 21, even when there is no Supervision Order or Permanence Order in place anymore. You don’t have to apply for continuing care, or be assessed for this, or to sign an agreement. If you are happy and settled where you are, with people you trust and who care for you, and you want to stay, then your local authority has a legal duty to support that and make it happen. What matters is that you are supported to think through all the options available and you speak to someone you trust.

What do I do if I’m unsure or uncertain, worried or undecided?

Don’t make any big decisions to ‘leave care’ or leave where you are living until you are fully aware of all your rights and options. Take your time, talk to someone you trust, and get independent advocacy if you’d find that helpful. You should not be rushed or pressured into making decisions that you are unsure about or you might later regret. Staying in your home – with your foster carers, kinship carers or in your residential home - in continuing care with people you trust and who care about you, is about giving you more time to think about and plan your future, enabling you to find a job, or to go to college or university, save up for your own place, and supporting you as you continue into adulthood.

Who does it apply to?

It applies to all young people who are ‘looked after away from home’ – so living with foster carers, kinship carers or in residential care – on or after their 16th birthday. It doesn’t matter if you are on a Permanence Order, a Compulsory Supervision Order or a being cared for on a voluntary basis (‘Section 25’). There are some exceptions – for example, if you are living in secure care setting, or if staying where you are is assessed to be not good for your wellbeing and welfare.

What are my rights?

You have a right to be cared for up until at least your 21st birthday, and remain with your carers in the same place if you choose. You have a right to continue to receive the support and care you need to develop confidence and life skills, and not be pressured or rushed into ‘leaving care’ or moving on to live more independently until you feel ready. And when you do feel ready you have a right to ongoing aftercare support up until your 26th birthday if you need it. What matters is that you are supported to think through all the options available and that you speak to someone you trust.

• These days, in Scotland most people leave home in their mid-20’s, and they do this gradually over a period of time. It should be no different for care experienced young people who are no longer being legally ‘looked after’ – and importantly, when you do, you should be encouraged and supported to maintain relationships with all the people who matter to you.
• If you were ‘looked after away from home’ (in care) with foster carers, kinship carers or in a residential children’s home on or after your 16th birthday then, if you choose to, you are entitled to ‘stay put’ under continuing care arrangements, living in that same place, with those same carers, until you are aged 21.
• You should be encouraged, enabled and empowered to stay with your carers until you feel you are ready to live more independently.
• You should not feel pressured or rushed into making a decision to ‘leave care’ or move out of where you are living or into ‘move–on’ accommodation until you feel ready and properly prepared, confident and supported.
• The local authority responsible for your care, including your social workers, carers and support workers should make sure that you are aware of your rights to remain living where you are and that you have opportunity to exercise that right.
• You should be given information about all the options available to you as you grow up, and be given time and support to consider what is best for you. You should have opportunities to talk about your plans and options with someone you trust.

What are the legal duties and responsibilities that my local authority have towards me?

By law, your local authority needs to make sure that you know about your right to continuing care in a timely manner, that you are fully involved in any and all decisions that are made about your life, and that you can get independent advocacy or legal advice before making any big decision. A timely manner means that they give you plenty of time to understand your rights and choices before any decisions need to be made. Your local authority should make all the arrangements for you to stay with your carers in continuing care if this is what you want to do. Your local authority must carry out a welfare assessment and that is only reason they can refuse to support you to stay with your carers.

‘Leaving care’ means that a young person is no longer legally looked after under a Supervision Order or a Permanence Order.

However, there are laws in Scotland that enable and empower young people to stay where they are living after they ‘leave care’ and to receive day-to-day care and support. The only thing that changes is the legal basis on which young people are supported. Since 2015, local authorities have had this legal duty to support young people to stay living in places that benefit them after they ‘leave care’. This accommodation and support after leaving care is known as Continuing Care and a young person can stay put under these arrangements until they are 21 or until they are ready to live more independently. The law says that the only reason for an eligible young person not to get Continuing Care is if an assessment – called a Welfare Assessment – shows that staying where they are would significantly adversely affect the welfare of the young person.