Supporting your relationships

Supporting Your Relationships

We know that having a network of personal and professional support can really make a difference on your journey to adulthood and interdependence.  As well as support from a PA, we may be able to offer you additional practical and emotional support in building and maintaining relationships.

Where appropriate we may be able to support you financially with visiting your support network up to 4 times a year until you are 21 years old.  This can be discussed and agreed in your pathway plan.

We can provide you with a mentor or peer mentor.

Where appropriate we can support you to stay in touch with your independent visitor.

We can help you to maintain or regain contact with people special to you or who cared for you in the past, like former foster carers, Social Workers and Independent Reviewing Officers.

Before you leave care, we will look at the support networks you have and how we can help you maintain and sustain these positive important relationships in your life.

We run a healthy relationships course.  This supports you in understanding your relationship with yourself, building self esteem and confidence before moving on to what a healthy relationship looks like and how it can be maintained.

We run courses on domestic violence, understanding this, safety planning and knowing available services to support you in a crisis.  We also have an Independent Domestic Abuse support worker who can meet with you to offer advice, guidance, risk assessing and safety planning.

 

Sharing information

Whilst you have an allocated PA we will send out a monthly news letter to you to inform you of any service changes, events and activities, helpful links and some general advice and guidance.  If you choose not to have a PA after your 21st birthday you can request to still receive the monthly news letter or we will send you a news letter every 6 months until your 25th birthday.

You can also keep up to date with information via our Instagram page. To stay up to date with activities, participation opportunity, ask question and interact and communicate with the leaving care team and other care experienced young people, make sure to follow the care leavers Instagram page. 

@Leaving_care_mk

 

Access to records

You have a right to see the information we keep about you, including the files and records written about you when you were in care. You can access your files mail to: data.protection@milton-keynes.gov.uk 

If you chose to view your files, we would like to support you with this. Looking through reports written about you and your family can be difficult to read. It is important that you discuss the support you would like with a Personal Advisor so that you don’t feel alone at this time. We do however respect that it is your choice how, if and when you choose to access your record and we will listen to your wishes.