care leavers. The youth homes, on the one hand, should not have strict rules as otherwise YAs would lose their individuality and on the other hand, YAs should not be left on their own because they would misuse the freedom. Close monitoring but friendly guidance is important to handle these care leavers, else the Model would not succeed. YAs after 18 years of age will be bound to face difficulty in independent living and manage everything alone from initial period of time. Hence, supported living in groups can be offered with a residential staff or a supervisor to help in financial management, managing household chores and managing work/ study simultaneously. After initial 6 months they can move for independent living. In case of Youth Hostels, it is difficult to monitor very strictly like switching off the mobile phone etc as YAs may regard that as interference in their privacy. However, a mentor staying with them can talk to them or guide them about right and wrong in friendly manner. The existing care staff with whom the children already had shared good emotional bonding before transition from care would be best to guide YAs in Youth Home/Hostel.
Youth home as another institution with strict rules and guidelines, yet, we have to make them understand the difference and that the Mentor would just guide them without intervening into their independence of living and decision making.
Post care supports to transited care leavers Systematized monitoring mechanisms were pointed out as a primary challenge in improving after care services for the youth because of increased workloads, number of young adults increasing significantly and lack of resources with the organizations. There is lack of uniformity in the financial supports offered to the youth leaving care. As evident from the findings, YAs staying in after care centres on attaining maturities get the facilities like lodging, boarding and study/course expenses, entirely covered by the care organizations, whereas, YAs in independent living set ups gets either one-time financial grants to set up the living arrangements or monthly stipend for few months to manage their livings outside care. The studied sample organizations mentioned about independent living financial supports to care leavers ranging between Rs.2500 to Rs.5000 on need basis apart from college fees or fees for their professional/vocational courses. Some of the sample organizations mentioned about reduced amount of financial supports for first 6 months after YAs get their first jobs so that they can manage
Decisions about when to withdraw from the life of a young person take into account how they are travelling on their life journey. Decisions about this are informed by our model of working with them and are not decisions informed by what funding we receive. Team at Salaam Baalak Trust to save some of their income in those 6 months. Some organizations mentioned about supporting with pocket money, rice and other monthly provisions of groceries for initial few months in YAs’ independent living set ups, whereas utility expenses such as, rents, electricity, water are contributed from YAs’ salaries. SOS mentioned about a three-year financial support programs to care leavers with Rs.2500 to each YA in the first year of getting employment, which gets reduced to Rs.1500 in second year and further reduced to Rs.1000 in the third year. Stakeholders had an agreement that decision on withdrawing financial supports from youth settling outside care organizations varies between individual youth. While some young people flourish upon leaving care, settle in their professional career with decent jobs and have stable housing, others struggle with issues like social isolation, mental health issues, substance abuse, nonemployment etc. Apart from financial supports, all sample organizations Different Shared Living Arrangements for Care Leavers
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