Jenny’s story – Choice and control

Jenny is autistic and she has complex needs. She has very limited speech and uses some gestures to communicate. For the past 6 years Jenny has been living in residential accommodation that is part of the college where she is a student.  Now that she is 22 years old she has to leave college and move into a residential home for adults.  While Jenny has lived in Brighton and Hove for a number of years she is funded by a Local Authority in London.  Her social worker would therefore like to know whether Jenny wants to remain in Brighton and Hove or move to London.

‘It was interesting getting to know Jenny at her college. It was very rewarding to see her settled in a new home taking into consideration how difficult she find making changes in her life. The advocacy process gave her continuity at a very difficult time’

 Over 6 weeks Jenny’s advocate visited her to observe her in her home setting and to enable Jenny to get to know her.  During the visits the advocate spoke to members of staff who knew Jenny well, to gain an insight of her likes, dislikes and daily routines.  This information was then fed back to Jenny’s social worker who developed a short list of homes for Jenny to view.  Due to Jenny’s autism it was decided that she would find home viewing too traumatic.  It was therefore agreed that Jenny’s advocate and her support workers should view the homes and feed their findings back to Jenny and her social worker.  Finally a suitable home was found between Brighton and London and Jenny was supported to go for short visits.  After her move, Jenny’s advocate continued to visit her for a time to ensure she had settled into her new home and that her support needs were met.