Dorset Council’s Birth to Settled Adulthood service, which launched in April, supports children and young people with complex health needs, disability or who have special educational needs and is currently making a difference to almost a thousand children and young people. It is designed to help the transition into a settled adulthood, with the social care teams from both children’s services and adults’ services working closely together alongside colleagues from health and other partners. Cecilia Bufton is the Independent Chair of the Birth to Settled Adulthood Delivery Board.
She said to the Health and Well Being Board: “A prominent feature of the service is that children and young adults should be supported to live safely in their own communities where possible. “We’ve started to achieve this by joining up the work of children’s and adults’ services along with the services that health colleagues provide." One young person with complex needs, including being non-verbal, has constant supervision from his parents to keep him safe both at home and in the community.
Through the service, he was able to grow in independence with short breaks to places and activities he enjoys, such as walking at National Trust gardens and at the beach. The partnership includes the Dorset Parent Carer Council which is run by parents and carers, for parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 25 with special educational needs or disability (SEND) who live in Dorset. Les.