How we care

What our service does

The Children we Care for and Leaving Care services play a vital role in delivering high-quality, strengths-based support to children and young people in our care and those transitioning to independence.

The Children we Care for Team fulfils our statutory responsibilities for children in care, adopting a relational and child-centred approach. Social Workers build trusted, purposeful relationships with children and young people, ensuring their voices are central to all plans and decisions. The team focuses on securing stability, promoting permanence, and enabling children to achieve their full potential within a safe and supportive environment.

The Leaving Care Team provides structured, strengths-based support to young people as they move towards adulthood. Through a combined model of Social Workers and Personal Advisors, the service works with young people from approximately age 15½ (sometimes younger depending on capacity within the team) up to 25 years. The team promotes independence, resilience, and aspiration, supporting young people to access education, employment, training, and stable living arrangements.

Across both services, practice is underpinned by collaboration, empowerment, and a commitment to improving outcomes, ensuring that every child and young person is supported to build a positive future.

Job types in this service

Social Workers (Children we Care For and Leaving Care)
  • Lead on statutory responsibilities for children and young people in care
  • Develop and review care and pathway plans, ensuring the voice of the child is central
  • Build and sustain meaningful, trusting relationships with children, young people and families
  • Work collaboratively with carers, multi-agency partners, and networks to deliver coordinated support
  • Promote strengths-based and outcome-focused practice
  • Support permanence planning and successful transitions into adulthood
Personal Advisors (Leaving Care)
  • Provide consistent, relationship-based support to care leavers aged approximately 15½ to 25
  • Support young people to develop independence, resilience, and life skills
  • Deliver pathway planning that builds on individual strengths and aspirations
  • Enable access to education, employment, and training; although an area of significant challenge for us currently
  • Provide practical and emotional support around housing, health, and wellbeing through strong partnership working
  • Act as a key, trusted professional supporting young people into adulthood

What our team has to say

Our practice is truly relationship-based. We are encouraged to take the time to build trust with young people and work alongside them to achieve their goals. It’s rewarding to see the difference this approach makes.

There is a strong strengths-based culture across the service. We focus on what young people can achieve, supporting them to build confidence and independence as they move forward.

The teams are experienced, stable, and highly supportive. There is a real shared commitment to high-quality practice and to ensuring that every young person has the opportunity to succeed.

Last updated on 28/10/2026