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Staying Close accommodation opens

The new accommodation that forms part of St Christopher’s Staying Close project is now open for young people to move into, once they are ready to move on from their residential placement.

The home opened on Friday, February 2 with attendees from across St Christopher’s coming to take a look at how the building has been transformed ready for the new arrivals. There were also attendees from the Department for Education, MAC-UK, Ealing Council, the Ride children’s home and PwC UK, who are all involved in the project.

Representatives from LandAid were also in attendance. They provided a £36,000 grant towards renovations for the home, and were pleased to see how the project has progressed thanks to their funding.

A young person living at St Christopher’s Safe Steps home came to look round the house and see what it was like. She is one of the young people who could make use of the accommodation once she is ready to move on from her current children’s home. Young people have been involved in shaping the service design to ensure it is suitable to their needs right from the start of the project.​

The Staying Close pilot is being funded by the Department for Education Innovation Programme and explores new ways of supporting care leavers. The aim is to explore how care leavers can be better supported when they move on from a children’s residential home to independence.

Although providing sustainable care leaver accommodation is an intrinsic part of the project, the focus is on supporting young people to maintain the relationships that are important to them. These relationships provide a support network for challenging times, but also for when young people want to celebrate their successes.

We will be sharing learning from Staying Close as the pilot progresses and look forward to seeing the outcomes for care leavers.

Find out more about Staying Close