'Transition' is a process or period of changing from one state to another. It can happen throughout our lives, and it’s experienced differently by different individuals.
Within some aspects of social care, in particular safeguarding, the notion of transition can imply a definitive 'line in the sand'.
A point of no return at the age of 18 years.
Children become adults on their eighteenth birthday; assumptions about capacity change overnight and eligibility for safeguarding support is very different depending which side of this line a person falls (Research in Practice 2018).
Transitional Safeguarding uses aspects from both adult and child approaches to offer more tailored support as a young person moves into adulthood.
Thus, whilst the applicable legal safeguarding framework in a particular case will necessarily reflect the chronological age of the young person, underpinning principles from both regimes may be used to devise the best approach for safeguarding that young person.
In the case of under 18s, whilst the safeguarding regime will be based on provisions such as the Children Act 1989 and Working Together to Safeguard Children, principles underpinning the safeguarding adult’s regime, such as the Care Act 2014 and accompanying statutory guidance, may be used to tailor the support for that young person.