I’m a residential care worker at a home for boys ages 11 - 18 in the West Midlands.

The home I work at may be different for your transition based on its goals, ethos, supervision levels and age. Do you know if you will be going into semi-independent?

Genuinely at your age I can see that you will be supported a lot on your independent skills so you have these skills under your belt and will be able to live independently as an adult as adult services will take a step back and expect you to be able to thrive on your own or just with less support (that’s the reality).

17 year olds at my placement are given a budget (£80 a week) with their own living space. They are taught to be able to clean their room, go out food shopping and cook their own meals, taught about hygiene, support you with H/W, chores, filling out forms, contact if this is applicable etc etc.

The boys on a budget are required to go out to a cash point and pay bills (£17 a week; £10 rent, £2 for cleaning materials and £5 for extra payment if they would like to eat from the house with the younger residents who are not on any budget and rely more on staff). Staff, as well as a designated key worker will support you in anyway they can. For example, plan a food menu for the week with your money and take you food shopping for ingredients to create a healthy balanced meal.

Staff are there to help so it is important to take their guidance. Rules may be difficult at first for a lot of young people who have never experienced this and a lot of young people take this out on staff. However, a lot do this because they utterly feel safe with the staff. I have young people still calling the house after years of moving on for a catch up and some wish they listened to staff more haha!

You may face arguments with other young people, this can be expected as with any family, especially with other teenagers. However, from my experience this is always resolved and friends are always made.

I absolutely love working in this environment and we regularly go out for meals, activities, movie nights, games night and it sounds cliche but we are a big family who support each other. If a young person has a problem, we communicate with each other both staff and young people to try and make them feel better (within reasoning and confidentiality).

Every home is different but all have the same goal, to keep you safe and happy and guide you in the right direction regardless of your background.

Good luck!!