The Care Quality Commission’s recommendation for smooth transitions between child and adult services is a welcomed by Catch22.
The Care Quality Commission have demonstrated how a framework of support that is better delivered and better suited to young people's needs can help them become successful adults. Right now, the way many support services for young people are structured leads to a number of artificial cut-off points fixed around age.
These services will often only focus on a single problem leaving others unaddressed as the transition into adulthood is made. This leaves vulnerable young people having to deal with unsuitable and uncoordinated adult services, which do not cater for their differing needs or the distinct life stage they are at.
Joyce Moseley, Catch22 Chief Executive, says:
'It’s clear that becoming an adult does not happen overnight and doesn’t happen without support, yet many of our policies and support services are based on arbitrary age limits. We want the new coalition Government to recognise that the period of late teens to early-20s is a vital stage of life and treat it as such.
Everyone should be able to expect appropriate support that enables them to become an independent adult with a job, a home and a stable future.'
Recent research for Catch22 revealed what people considered to be the most important indicators of becoming an independent adult. Being responsible for your own health and well-being was seen as one of the most important (29 per cent).
The Care Quality Commission’s example is very positive and meets with Catch22’s call to Government to formally recognise young adulthood, from 16 to 25, as a specific life stage and ensure services are better coordinated, better suited and more relevant to young people struggling to make the transition to adulthood.
