Helping Laila back into school
Laila* is a 14-year-old young carer who is living with her mother, her 10-year-old brother and her 6-year-old sister. Laila helps to care for her younger sister who has severe, non-verbal autism, epilepsy, hypermobility, learning difficulties and developmental delay; and her mum who suffers from fibromyalgia and mental ill-health.
When our support worker met the family, they were living in a one-bedroom flat that did not meet their needs and was waiting to get more appropriate accommodation through the council. Laila was also not attending school as she struggled with the family housing situation and supporting her sister and mum.
Laila had become very isolated, she was not socialising, or spending any time at all away from home. As a result, she was missing out on education and becoming more anxious due to her isolation. Laila wanted to get support to help her return to school.
Our support worker was able to support the housing application and raise additional concerns. The housing situation deteriorated and the family had to go into emergency accommodation before they were placed into a permanent home in the summer and the family situation significantly improved. There was enough space for Laila and her brother to have their own rooms. This has significantly reduced the impact of the caring role on Laila, providing her with the space she needed to manage the balance of caring responsibilities.
Our support worker also contacted the school to discuss Laila’s difficulties in school; the support she needed and the process for Laila's return. As Laila had not been in school for 6 months she would need to reapply for a place.
Once the family had moved into the permanent home Laila then felt able to engage with one-to-one support. These sessions helped Laila explore what she felt her barriers to education had been, and how she felt she might be able to change things on returning to school. With support, Laila wrote a school plan, which she called ‘ Measures which may help me to manage y10’.
Laila also wrote a school statement, where she reflected on the negative impact of being out of education for so long. She recognised the impact on her mental health and the barriers of not attending school may present to her in the future. Laila also articulated that she needed to take responsibility to engage willingly with the school.
Laila’s statement was submitted following the application to return to school. In October, Laila heard that the application had been successful. When we told Laila that her application had been successful and she could return to her school, she was overjoyed. She told us she couldn’t believe it, and she was so excited.