ARU Final Report

Full Report – March 2021 41 married adult however there are reasons I have social care and it wouldn’t have killed them to try to contact first a bit more. It shouldn’t take someone to reach crisis to seek help.” (Q: Pangender, 21) “Phone calls from personal advisor to see how I was doing, I never got this. I don’t have family or friends to speak to other than my partner and he knew how I was doing.” (Q: Female, 20) “Being able to talk to someone” (Q: Male, 22) “It would have been nice to get a text here and there.” (Q: Female, 23) “To know that I had a PA and for them to at least call to ask if I needed anything.” (Q: Female, 20) Some care leavers expressed the need for something more than emails and phone calls – suggesting ‘support walks’ or the option for respite care if needed: “I’d like to see her face to face as I don’t like the phone calls.” (Q: Female, 21) “More support when things are really hard and not coping i.e. phone contact, support walks. If someone is really struggling maybe respite with a carer of a sort. More info on who to call if can’t get food. People calling to check on you.” (Q: Female, 20) In the literature, Roberts et al. (2020) and the SCLC (2020) found that in certain cases where young people were particularly vulnerable, professionals offered socially distanced face-to- face contact such as walks. However, Roberts et al. (2020) also recognised the importance of open honest conversations with care leavers about the support that can be offered, and not promising what cannot be delivered. 4.4.4 Support from others In the questionnaire, care leavers were asked who else supported them during the pandemic (they were able to select multiple options): 73.3% said family members, 70% said friends, 51.1% said personal advisor/social worker, 33.3% said Leaving Care Services worker, and 15.6% said someone from their education (see Graph 11). Graph 11: Who else supported you during the pandemic? Number and percent of care leavers Family member(s) Friend(s) Personal advisor/ social worker Leaving Care Services worker Educational support (teacher, tutor, etc) Other 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 66 (73.3%) 63 (70%) 46 (51.1%) 30 (33.3%) 14 (15.6%) 14 (15.6%) Of the 15.6% selecting other, they reported that support primarily came from local charities and participation and involvement teams . When asked who supported them the most, personal advisors, Leaving Care Services involvement and participation teams, and family, friends and partners were most frequently mentioned: “My family have been a big support as my support bubble.” (Q: Female, 18) “My friends, family and members and workers of CHICC.” (Q: Female, 19) “My nana supported me throughout the whole thing.” (Q: Female, 22)