Moving Into Adulthood

The Moving Into Adulthood Checklist is to help young people and their families plan and prepare for the transition from children into adult services.  Each section highlights the key points you need to consider and can be used to help identify support related to education, social care, health, finances and supported living.  

Moving into adulthood is an exciting time for most young people, but for young people with learning disabilities and their families it can be a time of uncertainty and anxiety. When a child reaches adolescence, issues such as further education, work, leaving home, relationships, sexuality, and personal choices become important. 

For our families, there are additional things to think about.  Our relatives are dependent on many different services and agencies, so we have to think ahead and plan for the future in a way that other families don’t.  Planning should start in the year the young person turns 14 years old and the process takes several years. 

The Moving into Adulthood Handbook is a guide to what you need to think about when planning ahead for an adult with a learning disability.  Each chapter covers a different topic with tips and advice.  We recommend you do not try and read it all at once but dip in and out. 

Depending on where you are in your planning ahead journey, some of the information is also relevant to older adults and to those who may be moving out of the family home.