What should we prepare before our child turns 18?

The short answer

Do not treat eighteen as one deadline. Make a separate plan for education or work, healthcare, benefits and money, decision-making, and daily life. Put your teenager’s aims at the centre, identify which UK nation and service rules apply, and ask who owns each next action. Start with the changes due in the next year rather than trying to solve adult life at once. Independence is not all-or-nothing: a young person can make some decisions, need support with others and use adjustments or practical help without the goal becoming less meaningful.

• Plan alongside the young person, not around them.
• Separate education, health, money, decisions and daily life into different tracks.
• Check the rules and service names for the UK nation in which the young person lives or studies.
• Ask each children’s service whether it transfers, refers or discharges at the age boundary.
• Do not assume a diagnosis, education plan or benefit award automatically continues into an adult system.
• Treat decision-making ability as specific to the decision and support available.
• Build independence through useful support, not by removing help to test whether the young person copes.