Helping Young People Prepare for Adulthood and the Future

At Silver Birch Care we recognise the challenges young people encounter as they prepare to leave local authority care and make the transition into independent adult life. All the young people placed in our care will have their own designated Key Worker who will support them to achieve their aspirations and ambitions through education, training, and lifelong learning; helping prepare them to develop life skills to live independently.

We have also put together a guide to give young people in or leaving care information and advice to help prepare them for adulthood.

In the last 12 months, we have supported 122 young people to achieve either an educational placement, employment or secured some form of training; and helped 116 young people to develop life skills.

We adopt a holistic, person centred, strengths-based approach, attaching equal importance to developing the young person’s practical, emotional, and interpersonal skills. This includes self-care skills (e.g. personal hygiene, diet, health, and sexual health), practical skills (e.g. budgeting, shopping, cooking, cleaning), and resilience skills (e.g. self-esteem, identity, communication, negotiation, problem-solving, interpersonal, understanding and identifying with others, exploring and managing feelings, action planning and reviewing).

We encourage our young people to fully consider their options and get them to ask themselves: “What do I enjoy? What would I like to do? And what do I want to get out of my life?” We work closely with local colleges, where our young people are invited to discuss their interests and expectations with teachers and career advisors. Our Key Workers will also support with sharing details of available opportunities, completing application forms, writing CVs, and in attending interviews.

We actively develop volunteering opportunities for our young people through our network of partners, enabling them to develop new and exciting networks of people and experiences, acquire new skills to enhance personal development and enhance their employability, whilst helping to make a positive difference in society.

At Silver Birch Care we have a dedicated Sports Coach who encourages and supports all our young people with their sporting interests, whilst educating them about the importance of healthy eating and exercise. He will also support young people with obtaining the Duke of Edinburgh Award and/or Sports Leaders Qualification, which can help them gain important life skills such as communication, commitment, leadership, teamwork, confidence and resilience. Achieving a Duke of Edinburgh Award and/or Sports Qualification can then be used on the young person’s CV and when applying for jobs or further/higher education.

For more information, please feel free to get in touch with us.