Transitional Safeguarding
The Safeguarding Children Partnership and Safeguarding Adults Board held a joint development day in November 2023 focused on transitions from childhood to adulthood. Services who already plan, prepare and support people from childhood to adulthood gave presentations on good practice, and the wider partnership explored what the current gaps are, and which young people and adults might fall through the net.
From this joint development session, the following questions are to be considered by statutory, voluntary and commissioning partners in Calderdale, to establish Transitional Safeguarding Principles for Calderdale:
- Are Commissioners considering the impact when services stop or start at the age of 18? Could Commissioners consider broadening service specifications to enable a better transition to adulthood?
- Do services have age cut offs, inflexible provision? Or is your service person centred and does it support emotional, physical and psychological transition, no matter what their age? How can your service be more flexible?
- Are you aware of, and using escalation procedures when there are disagreements or gaps between services?
- How do you explain transition processes so that parents, carers and young people can make informed choices?
- How do you make views of the child or young person and parent/carers central to and evident in the planning or improvements around transition?
- Do you identify young people or adults who might ‘fall through the gap’ and what your or other services can do to support a safer transition?
- Have you considered the best way to communicate with people you work with? Including face to face, social media platforms etc?
- Are there realistic expectations between services – do you understand the remit, role and limitations of other services? Can these limitations be challenged?
- What are your ambitions for children and young people you work with?
- Have you considered what training, development opportunities and shadowing staff and volunteers might need to better support transition?
- Have you identified agencies, professionals or services (educational, voluntary, statutory and community) you might need to contact in order to strengthen your approach to transitional safeguarding?
- Does your organisation review how effective you are in supporting transition from childhood to adulthood?
- If there are systemic gaps or improvements needed about Transitional Safeguarding in Calderdale, is your organisation going to communicate and help resolve this?
- Have you shared innovation or where you’ve overcome barriers as good practice examples?
A further joint development day will be planned for Summer 2024 to follow up on how organisations have considered these questions and what progress has been made in Calderdale about effectively supporting children and adults through the transition process.