This presentation explores the challenges faced by young people with multiple and complex needs, the barriers to effective support, and the limitations of fragmented service responses. Drawing on extensive cross-agency experience in youth justice, social care, and mental health, it introduces the Framework for Integrated Care (FfIC), a trauma-informed and relationship-based framework for practice developed and piloted in the UK.  

Whilst not a panacea, the FfIC provides a basis for enabling a more cohesive, whole-system approach to supporting vulnerable young people through promoting a shared, systemic and developmental understanding, integration of services and collaborative practice. The presentation outlines the framework’s evolution, guiding principles, and practical application across services, highlighting how hope, shared understanding and relational practice can drive meaningful change for young people and the systems that support them. The presentation offers an opportunity to think about how services within the OITP might be aligned to better serve youth living in complex situations.