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Support for young people leaving full-time care in Scotland is peacemeal and haphazard, according to a report from the Scottish executive, writes Nicola Barry.
 
The report from the 'Throughcare and Aftercare Working Group' exposes the frailties of present arrangements, but also proposes a radical shake-up of services for some of the most vulnerable members of society.
 
The group, set up in November 1999, advises the executive on how to improve services to young people who are looked after.

 
The research reveals that current throughcare (preparation for leaving care) and aftercare (longer term support) services vary enormously across Scotland.
 
In Scotland, some 11,000 children and young people are looked after by local authorities. Many of these young people find themselves with no educational qualifications and no job prospects. Many end up sleeping rough, unable to find stability in anything they do.
 
The group stress how much these young people need support to successfully move from care into some form of independent living.
 
In order to help local authorities and the executive monitor this transition in future, the group have made a number of recommendations.
 
They want local authorities to collect accurate information - by age and last placement - on the exact numbers of youngsters leaving care as well as keep informed as to where they are living and what qualifications and training they have, if any.

 
Each young person should be allotted a key worker and have his or her own through and after care plan.
 
Jim Dickie, presdient of the Association of Directors of Social Work, said: “Local authorities and their partners already provide a range of supports, including financial, to these young people but more needs to be done.  

“Proposed legislation to remove entitlement to benefits for 16 and 17-year-olds leaving care and to transfer these funds to local authorities, can potentially create an integrated fund to meet all their needs in a co-ordinated way. 

“However, the devil is in the detail. The level of funding to be transferred is not yet known, nor do we know the full range of benefits to be included in the transfer. We also need to know what proportion of funding is associated with the cost of administering and tracking payments," he said.