45C.—(1) An eligible adult or a person authorised in writing to make a request on behalf of an eligible adult may request the Child and Family Agency to prepare an aftercare plan for the eligible adult where the Agency has not previously prepared a plan for that eligible adult.

(2) Upon receipt of a request under subsection (1), the Child and Family Agency shall, where any need is identified in an assessment of need carried out in respect of the eligible adult, prepare an aftercare plan setting out the assistance that the Agency may provide to the eligible adult to meet the needs as identified in the assessment, being assistance which may be provided to that eligible adult—

(a) directly by the Agency, or

(b) in accessing a service which is provided by—

(i) a public body or a person on behalf of the public body, where that eligible adult may be eligible for the service, or

(ii) any other person, not being a public body, referred to in subsection (4)(b).

(3) The Child and Family Agency shall prepare an aftercare plan under subsection (2) within 3 months of receipt of a request made under subsection (1).

(4) The Child and Family Agency in preparing an aftercare plan under subsection (2)—

(a) shall consult with a public body which provides, or any person who provides on behalf of the public body, a service for which the eligible adult may be eligible, and

(b) may consult with any person, not being a public body, which provides, or arranges to provide, a service.

(5) The Child and Family Agency may, with the consent of the eligible adult, consult with any person who the Agency considers may be of assistance to the Agency in preparing the aftercare plan.

(6) The Child and Family Agency shall, in preparing an aftercare plan under subsection (2), have due regard to the resources available to the Agency to implement that plan.

(7) Where on the coming into operation of this section the Child and Family Agency is providing assistance to a person in accordance with section 45 (prior to the amendment of that section by section 5 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015)—

(a) the Agency shall continue to provide such assistance in accordance with that section as if it had not been so amended, and

(b) if that person is an eligible adult he or she may make a request under subsection (1).

(8) In this section, "public body" and "service" have the same meaning as they have in section 45B.]