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Post-16: Parent and Carer

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oap-provision

Parent and Carer

Preparing for adulthood is about a child's or young person’s journey into adult life. Many children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities want to move into paid employment or university. They want to be healthy, have relationships, and belong in their local community. Below are some helpful links for parents and families to help with planning.

  • How Are You? has a list of social groups, activities, and volunteering in your local area.
  • Cambridge City Council has information on accessible sports activities.
  • Huntingdonshire District Council has information here about disability sports.
  • Spectrum provides activities and support for families of children with autism, additional needs, learning difficulties, and disabilities.
  • The CEA Card enables a disabled cinema guest to receive a complimentary ticket for someone to go with them when they visit a participating cinema.
  • Spectrum Gaming is an online community for autistic gamers aged under 18.
  • SportsWorks runs disability sports clubs for children and young people at several locations across Cambridgeshire.
  • Vivacity activities and holiday club provide opportunities for children and young people aged 7-19 with SEND (Special Education Needs and Disabilities).
  • Special needs Community Information Point is an information and advice service for families with 0–25-year-olds with a disability or additional needs. Includes information about local groups and activities in the Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Fenland areas.
  • The SEND Hub has a section on community groups.

  • Transition from secondary to post-16 is often the most spoken about subject for parents and families. YoungMinds has practical ideas and support in this area.
  • The Careers and Enterprise Company has information to support your child or young person’s career journey and tips on questions to ask during school or college parent’s evening.
  • Here is some helpful information by Contact when a child turns 16 years old.
  • Cambridgeshire County Council SEND Hub has a Parent Carer section for information about preparing for adulthood.
  • Targeted Services can support young people at risk of becoming Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), to overcome the barriers and issues they face.

  • Careermap has a Career magazine to help parents and carers support their young person.
  • Together Matters has a booklet to start thinking about the world of work.
  • Talking Futures has a helpful toolkit for parents wanting to have a career conversation with their child or young person. It also has pathway options.
  • Information for parents about apprenticeships at Amazing Apprenticeships.
  • Our Preparing for Adulthood pages have employment information.
  • A toolkit by the National Development Team for Inclusion called Better Off to Work [Size: 347 KB, File: PDF], including case studies and benefits information.
  • A Benefits Calculator can help you work out how much you would get from being in work.
  • We have produced an Employer Toolkit [Size: 1,828 KB, File: PDF] which details what a reasonable adjustment is and access to work.

  • A Transition Toolkit [Size: 458 KB, File: PDF] for families to support independent life skills, including tips.
  • Easy Pleasy Cookbooks [Size: 2.4 MB, File: PDF] has tips for eating on a budget with helpful cooking recipes.
  • GoHenry is not free but useful to support budgeting and money management. 
  • HyperJar like GoHenry but a little less detailed. HyperJar is the only free account for the whole family, from 6 to 106. Unlike a bank account, kids can share their Jars with mums and dads (as well as uncles, aunties, sisters, and cousins) and get instant transfers into their Jars.
  • Scope has lots of ideas and links for living independently.
  • Family Building Society helpful money guides for children and young people.
  • MoneyHelper has advice for disabled people, including benefits, grants, accessing financial products and money-saving tips. It also has a booklet [Size: 5.4 MB, File: PDF] aimed at helping young people with learning disabilities understand and manage money better.
  • Information on daily living aids and equipment is available on the Safe and Well website.
  • Helpful information on building independence on our SEND Information Hub pages: Equipment to help with daily life and Independent Living.

  • Keep Your Head has a lot of help for better mental health and well-being for young people, professionals, and parents.
  • Being the parent of a teenager can be tough at times, particularly when it comes to mental health. The advice in these films is practical. These are things you can do that can help to improve the situation you may be in.
  • Our Mental Health pages on the SEND Hub also cover a wealth of topics, including A-Z of health services and Mental health.
  • The Charlie Waller Trust has practical advice, information, and resources.
  • The NHS Child and Young Person Mental Health Service provides help and advice for parents and carers to deal with behavioural or other problems their child or young person is experiencing. Spotting depression in children and young people.
  • The Royal College of Psychiatrists has produced a helpful resource from a range of subjects ranging from Cannabis, club drugs, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Communication and Needs

Speech and Language UK is a team of speech and language therapists. They have written factsheets based on the most frequently asked questions from parents, carers, and practitioners.

A Green Box
Identifying Barriers and Understanding Needs
A Green Box
Communication
A Green Box
Autism

Post-18 Young People

Preparing for Adulthood [Size: 64 KB, File: DOCX] guide is separated into different sections so you can easily select the topics that are important to you. The topics included are Moving to University, Building Employability, Volunteering, Adult Learning, and Benefits.

A Green Box
Adult Learning
A Green Box
Volunteering
A Green Box
Benefits

Resources and Tips

Other helpful resources.

  • Please refer to our other Preparing for Adulthood booklets:
  • Pinpoint provides help and information to parent carers of children and young people aged 0-25 with additional needs and disabilities. It gives parents and carers opportunities to have a say and get involved in improving local services.
  • Use Contact to find other parent carer forums near where you live.
  • The Council for Disabled Children have helpful resources.
  • Government help if you have a child or young person with a disability. You might be entitled to help, such as aids and adaptions.

Please see our new film about Health Transitions which was co-designed by young people. The film can be found here:

https://youtu.be/L-tN2kx6Rmg

Question and answer checklist to support the film

PFA Health Question and Answer43KB–word
Size: 43KBFile format: word

We hope you will also like the other films we have designed which can be found on the SEND information hub, such as:

Employment: https://youtu.be/wgmOiFaapQY

Independent Travel: https://youtu.be/RFVxqRWKdXM

Other helpful short films: The Preparing for Adulthood Team at Cambridgeshire County Council have worked with Curiously Divergent to make the following short Career library films called Top Tips from Professionals!

  • Meet Gerry on YouTube: Gerry talks about his experience with dyslexia and how it shaped his career journey. He shares valuable advice and top tips for young people who may be facing similar challenges.
  • Meet Jen on YouTube: Jen is autistic, dyslexic, and a care leaver who left school without qualifications. Now completing her PhD, she shares her powerful story and the strategies that helped her succeed.
  • Meet Katie on YouTube: Katie, who is ADHD and autistic, now runs her own business. She discusses the stereotypes she’s faced and offers empowering top tips for young people.