Advice for carers of adults

When you've cared for a loved one living with disabilities well into their adulthood, we know there’s an unbreakable bond, and it’s hard to imagine someone else providing their care. However, everyone needs to fly the nest at some stage, and caring for a grown-up child with support needs can present its own challenges in later life. It’s therefore good to know your options, and put plans in place before you need them. With over 25 years’ experience in helping adults make the move from their family home, at Lifeways we can offer valuable support and guidance.

Watch: Ross’s story

Ross moved to Lifeways after his parents realised it might be time to look at alternative care options once they reached their seventies.

Support to live the life they choose

At Lifeways, we empower adults living with learning disabilities and other support needs to lead fulfilling, more independent lives. How that looks for each person is completely different, and so we always take a personal approach, working together with families, support networks and individuals to make sure everything we do is tailored around them. Whether it’s learning new skills, making new friends, or spending more time in their local community, we’ll be by their side to support them in doing just that and more.

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I’d never lived on my own before. I can do more independent stuff now. I like going to the cinema, shopping and going out.

Sam, who moved into supported living in his 40s

I had concerns, just as any parent would have with their child leaving home - even more so with a disabled daughter. But I was also filled with a lot of hope. It's been a really positive move.

Parents of person we support

Great locations

With Lifeways, there’s plenty of choice when it comes to places to live, with houses, bungalows and apartments in both our supported living and residential care locations. All our services have shops, amenities and transport links nearby, so your loved one will benefit from being closely connected to their local community. When it’s time to make a decision on where to live, we’ll spend time showing you and your loved one around the locations we feel will meet their needs and future requirements. These visits are also a great opportunity to meet our support teams and other people we support, and ask any questions you might have.

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Moving in

Making the move from the family home will be a big period of change in your loved one’s life, especially if they’ve lived there well into their adult years. At Lifeways, it’s important to us that you, as a family, feel supported and comfortable throughout this time, and so we’ll be on hand to help make the move as smooth as possible. We’ll make sure to keep you and your family up-to-date throughout the whole process, aim to keep disruptions to routines to a minimum, and offer you lots of friendly advice and support to help you feel informed and confident when it comes to making any decisions.

Read our FAQs on moving in

It’s the best of both worlds - we can come any time to visit, but also it’s lovely for us to be able to go out now, visit friends, go shopping. And Ross and Tara (his sister) get on better now than they’ve ever done before.

Parents of Ross, who moved to Lifeways aged 37

Time together

If you do make the decision for your loved one to move into supported living or residential care, it doesn’t mean your relationship has to change. In fact, we often find that once some of the responsibility of daily care is eased, the people we support build even stronger bonds with their family. We support family members to spend as much time as they’d like with their loved one, and we’ll keep you fully involved in both the planning of support and any changes we may propose.