A service launched earlier this year for children and young people with additional needs is already making a difference in their lives.

Dorset Council’s Birth to Settled Adulthood service, which launched in April, supports children and young people with complex health needs, disability or who have special educational needs and is currently making a difference to almost a thousand children and young people.

It is designed to help the transition into a settled adulthood, with the social care teams from both children’s services and adults’ services working closely together alongside colleagues from health and other partners.

Cecilia Bufton is the Independent Chair of the Birth to Settled Adulthood Delivery Board. She said to the Health and Well Being Board: “A prominent feature of the service is that children and young adults should be supported to live safely in their own communities where possible.

“We’ve started to achieve this by joining up the work of children’s and adults’ services along with the services that health colleagues provide."

One young person with complex needs, including being non-verbal, has constant supervision from his parents to keep him safe both at home and in the community.

Through the service, he was able to grow in independence with short breaks to places and activities he enjoys, such as walking at National Trust gardens and at the beach.

The partnership includes the Dorset Parent Carer Council which is run by parents and carers, for parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 25 with special educational needs or disability (SEND) who live in Dorset.

Lesley Mellor from Dorset Parent Carer Council said: “Earlier this year there was a Local Area Ofsted and CQC inspection for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

“We were really pleased that the inspection found that the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes."

Since the launch, Best Start in Life Advisors have joined the service with a focus on education and development for 0 to 5 years. The Young Carers Service has also been included.

Councillor Clare Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills said: “We want all our children to be prepared for adult life and this includes young people who might have additional needs.

“It’s great to see the progress being made by this new service, which cuts across both children’s and adult services, and I look forward to hearing about more successes over the coming months."

Councillor Steve Robinson, who chaired the recent Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “This is a phenomenally innovative, creative and brilliant programme that started at the concept level and has developed into addressing definite issues that have been able to help real young people as individuals.”