Information Care Experienced Young People
Navigating life outside of care can feel both exciting and daunting. Here you’ll discover a wealth of invaluable resources and guidance tailored to support you every step of the way. Whether you’re seeking advice on housing, education, employment, or simply looking for a friendly hand to guide you through this transition, we can help.
National Advocacy Helpline
Need some help or someone to talk to? Here’s how you can reach the National Advocacy Helpline Service:
• Website and online chat: https://www.nyas.net/safetynet/
• Freephone: 0808 808 1001
• Email: help@nyas.net.
• Whatsapp: 07494788875.
• Text: text NYAS to 85258.
What can you expect from the NYAS Safety Net helpline? They offer:
• Advice and support over the phone.
• Guidance to local services.
• Help with specific issues through advocacy.
• Special advocacy for those who can’t give instructions.
• Assistance finding advocacy services.
Who can reach out? Anyone who needs it! This includes:
• Children in care and those who’ve left care up to age 25.
• Children and young people needing support from children’s services, including those in need or on protection plans, or 16-17 and without a home.
NYAS also helps refugee and migrant children, as well as young people in mental health settings. So, if you need assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Help at Hand
Help at Hand is the Children’s Commissioner’s advice and assistance service for children in care, children who have a social worker or are working with social services, children living away from home and care leavers.
Children, young people, or their advocates can get in touch with Help at Hand for free by phone, website or email.
Home – Help at Hand (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk)
Contact – Help at Hand (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk)
Children’s Commissioner
The Children’s Commissioner’s Office is formed to deliver for children. The office spans policy, research, communications, public service innovation and Help at Hand. The Help at Hand service is for children in care, leaving care, living away from home or working with children’s services to offer free support, advice, and information. Alongside this, In My Opinion (IMO) is a voice for teenagers in care and for care leavers to share their experiences and stories.
Homepage | Children’s Commissioner for England (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk)
In My Opinion (IMO)
A voice for teenagers in care and care leavers. A place to share stories, experiences, and achievements, get and give advice, and access to information and resources.
IMO – A voice for teenagers in care and care leavers (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk)
Become
Become is a charity for children in care and care leavers. There are lots of different ways that they can help. from ongoing coaching, helping you in stressful situations, to providing a friendly space to meet other care-experienced young people. Their Care Advice Line is a friendly helpline for children in care and care leavers.
Get Support – Become (becomecharity.org.uk)
You can call or email them to get help, support, advice, guidance – or just to get in touch with someone to listen to you.
Care Advice Line open Monday-Friday
10am-5pm
Call: 0800 023 2033
WhatsApp: 0786 003 4982
POhWER
POhWER is a charity who provide information, advice, support and advocacy to people who experience disability, vulnerability, distress and social exclusion.
Their mission is to deliver high quality advocacy, information and advice services empowering people to have a voice and to make a real difference to their lives.
They are a charity and the advocacy, information and advice services they provide are free, independent and confidential.
As an independent organisation they are separate from the government, local councils and the NHS and we always put the wishes and needs of the people they work with first.
Useful Information Care Experienced Young People
Care leavers’ Charter
A Charter is a list of important ideas and promises. This Charter says what young people leaving care want the government to promise them. These promises help guide how decisions are made and how rules should be understood, but they don’t replace the actual laws. They just help explain what the laws mean.
Read the Care Leaver Charter here.
Young People’s Guide to the Independent Reviewing Officer’s Handbook
This Guide was written by the Office of the Children’s Rights Director and approved by the Department for Education
What is this Guide about?
It is all about Independent Reviewing Officers (known as “IROs”). They are the people who chair reviews for children living in children’s homes or foster care (sometimes called “looked after” or “in care”). They have an important role in deciding what happens in your future. This Guide will help explain a “Handbook”, written by Government, which tells IROs what they should be doing for children and young people like you.
Bristol
Bristol Local Offer for Care Leavers
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire’s Local Offer for Care Leavers
Support You Can Get from South Gloucestershire Council if you are Leaving Care
Bath and NES
Care leavers local offer | Bath and North East Somerset Council (bathnes.gov.uk)
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