Guide to Transition

The transition to adulthood can present many challenges to young people and their families. This guide has been written to inform parents and carers of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) about the transition process and what to expect from it. The guide will tell you:

• what agencies are involved;
• what choices are available; and
• what to think about when planning how to enable a young person to make a successful transition.

This guide has been written specifically for parents and carers of young people who have (or had) a statement of special educational needs in Barnet, however, most of the content applies elsewhere.

The transition to adulthood touches every aspect of a young person's life and supporting disabled young people in their transition to adulthood presents a major challenge to service providers since the process should be individual to the needs and aspirations of each young person.

It is a fluid process, spread out over a number of years, and often local options for disabled young people are limited and support can be patchy and inconsistent. These challenges are compounded by young people's moves from one service to another at different ages. A disabled young person may move from paediatric care to adult health services at 16, then at 18 move from children's to adult social care while, at the same time, moving from pre-16 to post-16 education and training.  Each of these transitions is likely to occur independently of each other and disabled young people and their families may repeatedly have to deal with new agencies and professionals, re-telling their story each time.

Around 20% of disabled young people in Barnet receive support from social care services. They have to meet stringent eligibility criteria in order to receive resources. Many disabled young people can miss out on critical support because different eligibility criteria apply when they move on to adult services. They may then find they are not eligible for services that could provide timely and effective support for them or their family.

To make sure disabled young people get the support they need as a matter of course all agencies need to make two activities a priority:

• listen to what disabled young people say they want; and
• work positively together across agencies to create these services.

This guide provides information about transition to help young people think about, plan and lead the lives they want. It is useful for anybody and everybody who has an interest in transition. 

The ongoing review of 14-19 learning provision, plans to raise the school leaving age and other developments could have a huge impact on disabled young people's experiences at transition. The Government has consulted on the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Green Paper ‘Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability' published on 9^th March 2011. It has now set up 20 pathfinder projects across the country to test out new ways of working. You can keep up to date with new developments via this website, the Department for Education (DFE) and the Preparing for Adulthood programme.