ADASS Past President Melanie Williams invited to join expert panel on children moving into adulthood

We’re delighted a new independent expert panel will investigate the important issue of young people transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and those needing care and support moving from children’s to adults’ services in our local authorities.

Our members tell us young people don’t always get the support they need and have called for more focus on this area and the support and infrastructure they need to get the right tools in place to support these young people and their families. And our last Autumn survey highlighted a 30% increase in the number of ‘high-cost packages’ Directors of social services are facing, when young people with SEND and disabilities move across to be supported by their teams.

ADASS Trustee and former President Melanie Williams has been invited to join this new expert panel as an Advisor. She said: “Hearing from people about their experiences when progressing into adulthood and inevitably treatment, care and support moving from children services to adult services is so vital. We know that we don’t always support people and their families in a way that makes this easy and professionals themselves find it hard to understand and navigate this too. It will be so important for DHSC to understand the policy changes that can be made to make this experience better and for people to enjoy better wellbeing as a result.”