Specific circumstances for Care Leavers

Financial Support

Your Personal Adviser or midwife will support you to apply for a grant of £500 to buy essential items for your baby from the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) if you are eligible for one. More information can be found on the Gov.UK website: Sure Start Maternity Grant.

Family Nurse Partnership (FNP)

The FNP is an offer from health services to support new parents who may benefit from additional support to universal services. You will have a dedicated health visitor who works with you from before the baby is born until they are five years old according to your need. Referrals for family nurse partnership support can be done by Personal Adviser or by your midwife.

Additional Support

If you would like us to attend any  antenatal or postnatal appointments, or be your birthing partner, we would always be very happy to do this.

Pre-birth assessment

It is not automatic that as a Care Leaver your unborn child would be referred for a pre-birth assessment within Children’s Social Care.

A referral to Children’s Social Care is a great opportunity for additional support for you, for your partner, and for the child and is worth considering. If you decide that you would like this, you can refer yourself or your Personal Adviser could make a referral.

If your Personal Adviser believes that a pre-birth assessment is necessary because of worries that they have regarding how you will manage to care for the baby, they will share with you their decision to make the referral and why. Your midwife or GP or anyone else working with you may also have a view as to whether they think a pre-birth assessment would be beneficial or would be necessary; similarly, they should be sharing that with you and the decision that they make.

Post birth

Post birth, if you want to access training or education you should find out what child care support is on offer from your employer, training provider, college or university. 

If you’re in university, you can access childcare through Student Finance. This is called the student childcare grant and you can get up to 85% paid. You need to apply for the childcare grant through student finances.

For Care Leavers under 20 years of age at the start of their course, childcare support can be accessed through the Governments 'Care to Learn' Scheme. The scheme is only available for publicly funded courses. You can get up to £180 a week to help with childcare. You can apply on the Gov.UK website.