This month’s Blog is a take-over by our Head of Staying Close at St Christopher’s. We are proud to aptly highlight such work this National Care Leavers’ Week, as this year’s theme of ‘All of Us, We are One’ (as chosen by almost 200 care experienced people), highlights the value of creating lasting connections.

So, what better time to talk about our Staying Close offering and all the innovation continuous support that has been under development during the last few months for the young people in our care.

As many of you will know, Staying Close is a national programme funded by the Department Of Education (DofE), that aims to support Care Leavers at that crucial stage of their lives as they leap into the unknown and world of independence. Many Care Leavers have described this point in their lives as an actual ‘cliff edge’ where the common thread seems to be a considerable reduction of the support offer being available to them. Well, Staying Close came into the game to specifically bridge this gap some time back, by both providing packages of practical support and also by developing a shared culture within the professional networks where trusted and lasting relationships are instrumental in creating a safety net for Care Leavers at the time when they need it most.

St Christopher’s has been successfully delivering a Staying Close model since 2017, first as one of the eight initial pilot projects, then as a well-established provider as part of the national rollout initiated in 2022 – which is now seeing over 50 programmes in place nationally.

Our model here at St Christopher’s has always been to focus on helping young people to build trusted relationship with their carers/key workers, but most importantly we have been allowing them to rely on those relationships during the crucial stage of leaving care / transitions and to keep in contact even long after they had left our residential o supported accommodation services.

Our main objective has always been to be there for the young people right at the crucial times when change was occurring for them, whether they needed guidance when signing for a new tenancy, budgeting, looking for a job, having their voices heard during a Care Review meeting, managing a crisis, looking for emotional support or simply just having a phone chat every now and again to check in.

During the last 7 years more than 180 Young People have benefited from our Staying Close offer. Our support has materialised through provision of suitable accommodation, participation in Life Skills activities, celebrations of achievements, plans for transitions out of care, outreach support arrangements, co-production of feedback for stakeholders and the ongoing offer of therapeutic support.

Currently we have 60 young people on our Staying Close cohort, of which 49 have already left St Christopher’s and are being supported through outreach and contact arrangements. Some of these young people are asking us to help them navigate through the uncharted waters of independent living and often return to visit our homes to give us an update on how things are working out for them.

These are the moments that we cherish the most, sharing a nice cup of tea, chatting about the latest events happening in their lives and the wider world and then gently moving on to discussing the progresses or the setbacks that the young people have been experiencing. It’s what makes them feel at HOME and we want them to know that the door is always open for them, no matter what.

Now, as a team at St Christopher’s we have been thinking really hard about another way to make sure that the voices of our of young people can be heard even more and be able to reach a wider audience. So, in the true spirit of co-production,we came up with the idea of developing a podcast! Why a podcast? Well, why not?

In a post pandemic modern society podcasts have found their golden age. Whether it is a food focussed or about wellness, current affairs or science, it is undeniable that, if put in the right hands, a podcast can be an invaluable platform for voices to be heard and knowledge to be communicated further afield. And as long as we have an audience who may be interested in hearing about what the young people’s views on their own care experiences, then it is worth speaking out. So, please watch this space, as you might see something coming up soon from our podcast co-created with the young people that we support!

Going forward, we must think about what the future might have install for Care Leavers. Staying Close has so far represented an invaluable opportunity to steer the route in the right direction in terms of opportunities for young people moving into independence. A recent announcement from the Prime Minister about the current Government’s commitment to make life easier for Care Leavers (i.e. by removing the barrier of a local connection when Care Leavers are looking for social housing accommodation outside their own Local Authority) seems quite encouraging.

In the meantime, we at St Christopher’s will continue to celebrate WITH our Care Leavers all year round, whether it is an annual festivity, a birthday, a graduation, a cultural event, the birth of a child, a new job, a milestone being achieved, a performance, an healthy change or any other good reason to celebrate and feel close regardless of time and distance. After all, the importance of creating and continuing key connections and providing support remains crucial for those no longer in our full time care.

Fabrizio