The Children’s Commissioner for Wales is visiting Torfaen to talk to care leavers about the issues that affect them.
Keith Towler will meet young people who are supported by Torfaen Young People’s Support Service (TYPSS), including those who are not in education, employment or training (NEETS). Speaking of the visit he explains,
“I often hear from young people leaving care how difficult it is for them to access information and support. I believe that leaving care should be a positive experience and we must remember that these young people have the right to be able to access information and support that will enable them lead independent lives. I am looking forward to seeing for myself how the multi-agency approach in Torfaen is empowering young people to do just that.”
The visit, on Tuesday 26th January, has been organised following a discussion about local authority support for care leavers at a recent Wales Leaving Care Forum.
“Colleagues working with care leavers across Wales were discussing the type of problem that we all face,” explained Gary Jones, manager of TYPSS. “Fortunately, in Torfaen, we’ve been able to make a dramatic impact on helping care leavers and other young people, by bringing together our support services under one roof. The Children’s Commissioner expressed an interest in seeing for himself what support we are able to offer care leavers and to talk to the young people themselves.”
Since it was set up in June 2007, TYPSS has transformed the lives of many vulnerable 16-21 year olds who have sought advice and support about homelessness, mental health issues, substance misuse, education, employment and training, pregnancy and other issues.
At the heart of TYPSS’ approach is the way it has taken the multi-agency approach one step further and brought together all the services that vulnerable young people might need under one roof and co-ordinated them centrally.
Demand has grown steadily, and 365 visits to the service were recorded in November 2009 (latest figures), compared to 270 in March 2008. In the year ending March 31st 2009, there were 3,827 individual visits by young people needing support from one or more agencies based at TYPSS.
This has prevented the harmful and frustrating ‘pillar to post’ syndrome – a formerly common experience where vulnerable young people might have had to deal with three or four professionals and revisit past, often painful, experiences with each of them before gaining appropriate help.
TYPSS runs regular training/support groups for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), including the Employability Group, which supports young care leavers to gain valuable qualifications and work experience, healthy eating and cookery classes, a breakfast club for those who are doing key skills courses, a drop-in group for young women.
