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Our Services: Young People who are Homeless or in Need of Support – Community Care

Our Community Care team are happy to provide advice to any young person who needs support from their local authority.

Many young people can find themselves homeless for a number of reasons eg

• thrown out by their parents
• victims of violence or broken homes, and

need help in finding somewhere to live. In addition to accommodation, they often need support in their every day lives, in areas such as:

• financial and budgeting support
• education/employment advice and
• help with moving towards independence.

Essentially, they need the support that a child would normally expect from a parent.

Young People's (Under 18's) Rights

Social Services have a duty to provide support and accommodation to young people under the age of 18 who are in need of help to manage things that affect their health or development. This duty also applies to unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

There are many young people who have to fight for their right to accommodation. Social services departments should carry out an assessment of the young person to find out whether or not they do in fact have a duty to provide support and accommodation in this particular case.

The Law

There has been a wealth of recent case law which set outs clearly when local authorities are required to act. It clearly states that a homeless young person under the age of 18 must almost always be accommodated by social services and not by the housing department.

There are a number of very good reasons for this.

• First and foremost, social services have the expertise to be able to identify the type of support package that a young person requires, as this will go way beyond the provision of accommodation.
• They will also be able to establish the type of accommodation which is needed for the young person, be that a children's home, foster care, supported accommodation or independent accommodation with visiting support.

Support for Young People over the Age of 18

In many cases, where social services have arranged accommodation for a young person between the ages of 14 and 18, they will be entitled to a range of further services, guaranteeing support from social services until the age of 21, or 24 if they remain in education. The benefits of this to a young person who is without parental support are enormous. Unfortunately, due to the cost of providing these services, local authorities often restrict services and support packages which young people frequently need.

Why Choose Us?

At Maxwell Gillott we have one of the most experienced and successful community care teams in the country. Our solicitors have assisted hundreds of young people to receive the support to which they are entitled.

We can advise young people, parents, support groups and charities of the rights of young people and ensure that local authorities meet their duties to many of the most vulnerable people in society.

To find out more about our community care services, please contact us.