Following the death of Ms A: A local authority response to transitional safeguarding

This article discusses work done over several years in the London Borough of Havering (LBH) to develop and strengthen services for young people transitioning from Children’s Services to adulthood, care-experienced young people in particular. The impetus for this development work was a Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) published in 2017 concerning a care-experienced young adult, Ms A, who was receiving Leaving Care services at the time of her death at the age of 20. Following a successful funding bid to the Department for Education, LBH made significant investment in transitions services, co-producing these with young adults themselves in conjunction with a work-support mental health charity MAC-UK. This work resulted in the creation of: The Cocoon, a new ‘one-stop shop’ onsite multi-agency service provision; and the Transitions Panel, a new multi-agency planning forum. This article describes the development of The Cocoon and the Transitions Panel, and summarises the impact of these developments.