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Looked after children

Children's homes

Some children, through no fault of their own, cannot live with their own family. The Council has a duty to arrange suitable places for these children and young people to live; alternatives are fostering, adoption, residential schools, supported lodgings and children's homes.

Assessment of need

All children and young people are different and have different needs, and adults respond in various ways to the needs of children and young people.

Before we can help we need to make an assessment of the child or young person’s situation to find out what their problems are and how they might be helped.

To make the assessment we will need to meet with the child and their family, possibly a number of times. We will also need to talk to other people who know the child and family. Unless there is concern for the safety of the child or other children we will make sure we have agreement before we talk to them.

A record of the assessment will be made, including the child and family’s views and wishes, what we have agreed we should all try to achieve, and how this should be done.

Aims of children's homes

Children’s homes aim to:

• provide children with a comfortable home;
• help children achieve their full potential and life changes by giving services and information;
• enable each child and their family to make good choices and positive changes to their lives in a planned way;
• work with other professionals to make sure that children have good experiences during their stay, and to help children make the most of their social and school life;
• support young people through care and on to independent living, when this is part of the care plan.

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