Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 part 11 - continuing care: guidance

2. Aims of Continuing Care

The aims of Continuing Care are:

1) To address the inequalities between looked after children and their non-looked after peers by providing a stable home and ensuring that young people do not leave care until they are prepared and ready to leave;

2) To improve the assessment, preparation and planning for young people leaving care; and

3) To provide better personal support for young people after leaving care.

Local authorities have a duty^[8] to provide advice and assistance with a view to preparing the child for when they are no longer looked after by a local authority. Continuing Care is part of a continuum of support that prepares young people for a successful transition out of the care system, based on plans which reflect their needs and aspirations, backed up by consistent, personalised support from local authorities and other corporate parents.

Continuing Care is an opportunity to increase independence at a rate which suits the evolving capacity of the young person. All eligible looked after young people should be encouraged, enabled and empowered to stay in their home until they are able to demonstrate their readiness to move on to more independent living.

The only exceptions to the duty of a local authority to provide a young person with Continuing Care is where the accommodation the person was in immediately before ceasing to be looked after was secure accommodation; the accommodation the person was in immediately before ceasing to be looked after was a care placement and the carer has indicated to the authority that the carer is unable or unwilling to continue to provide the placement; or the local authority considers that providing the care would significantly adversely affect the welfare of the person. If the local authority does take the view that the young person’s welfare would be seriously adversely affected by remaining in their current home, this must be evidenced in a Welfare Assessment that meets the requirements of the Continuing Care (Scotland) Order 2015 as soon as reasonably practicable before the person ceases to be looked after by the local authority. More information on Welfare Assessments can be found in section 7.