YOUNG people preparing to leave council care are now enjoying improved opportunities – largely due to a new centre which has recently opened for them in Bournemouth.

The head of service admits that the challenge will now be to offer the same opportunities for those who live further away from central Bournemouth and are unable, or unwilling to travel to use the facilities.

Ideas being considered include a “virtual hub” where social workers and other staff can offer advice and support online.

Jane White, BCP’s director of corporate parenting, says the added benefit of the new hub, which has just had a ‘soft opening’, is that it has attracted a number of 17-18 year-olds who previously were unwilling to engage with the service.

She told a children’s services overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday evening that the young people had worked with those developing the service to help shape the way it looked and will operate.

The service leavers hub, which will be officially opened later in the year, offers a range of services from group sessions to one-to-one advice.

Ms White said the service was also working with housing colleagues to improve the range of accommodation for young people leaving the care of the council, many of them moving on from living with foster carers.

She said that two extra staff had been taken on, thanks to a Government grant, and it was hoped to make twenty extra properties available for young care leavers later in the year. Normally the council considers a care leaver to be up to 18, but in some circumstances the council’s responsibilities can continue until the age of 25.

Ms White told the committee that a range of support services were available for those leaving care and the council was now managing to keep in touch with 94% of all care leavers, an improvement on previous years.

She told councillors that very few young people in the care of the council were not in secure accommodation and often when they were not, they tended to be in their 20s, and had made a positive decision to live the way they were.

She said there was only one young person, she was aware of, in bed and breakfast accommodation but that person was also older and there was hope of soon being able to find a permanent home.