Complete our online form
Most referrals come from local authorities and referrals agencies.
If you would like to make a referral, please complete our form. It’s important to provide as much information as you can, highlighting the child’s support needs, history and background to help us make an informed decision.
We respond to all initial referral requests within 48 hours. We’ll let you know whether the referral is being considered or if there are no vacancies or appropriate matches at this time.
Email usAssessing the child’s needs
If the placement is being considered, we may ask for further information to help us assess the child’s support needs further.
We’ll complete a risk-matching assessment that looks at a variety of factors, including the child’s support needs, the potential impact on other children in the home and the placement time frame.
What happens if a placement is offered?
If we can offer a placement, we’ll contact the social worker and collate all the relevant information, such as educational history and contact details.
We’ll ask the placing social worker to send us essential information alongside the existing care/placement plans.
At this stage, we’ll also agree a support package, including fees, with the local authority.
Admissions process
We’ll invite the child to visit the home with their social worker or family member. This is a great opportunity to meet the support team and discuss shared expectations about behaviours, boundaries and education.
The visit also gives us the chance to find out more about the child’s likes, dislikes and wishes.
Our manager will ask the social worker to sign the placing agreement, which sets out the level of support and daily costs.
Settling in
We’ll arrange a date for the start of the placement. Once the child has moved in, we’ll produce a placement plan and individual behaviour plan, which is shared with the team, social worker, the child and their family.
Each child is given a booklet with details about all the routines, rules, activities, and support team. A team member will be available to answer any questions and introduce our new resident to the other members of the house.
Please get in contact if you have any questions about the referrals or admissions process.
The referrals process - A step-by-step guide
Our Referrals Manager reviews the information provided with the manager of the home. We look at a range of factors, such as the child’s background and circumstances, other children in the home, and the placement time frame.
We aim to respond, via email, within 48 hours. We’ll let you know whether the referral is being considered or if there are no vacancies or appropriate matches at this time.
The referral will be passed to the home’s manager for further consideration. We may request additional information, such as pathway plans, to help us evaluate the child’s support needs further and help us to reach a decision.
We’ll let you know the outcome on the same day that the decision is made – either by phone or email.
If we can offer a placement, we will contact the social worker and collate all the relevant information (such as educational history and contact details). We’ll ask the placing social worker to send us essential information alongside the placement plan and previous care plan.
At this stage, we’ll also agree a support package, including fees, with the local authority.
We’ll invite the child to visit home with their social worker or family member. This is a great opportunity to meet the support team and discuss shared expectations on behaviours, boundaries and education.
It also gives us the chance to find out more about the child’s likes and dislikes and wishes so this can be reflected in the placement plan.
Our manager will ask the social worker to sign the placing agreement, which sets out levels of support and daily cost.
We will arrange a date for the start of the placement.
Please get in contact if you have any questions about the referrals process.
Emergency placements
We consider urgent referrals in certain circumstances. If you need to place a young person urgently (within five days), please ensure that you’ve provided sufficient information on risk.
Our team will carry out an initial risk assessment and make a decision within 72 hours. If we can offer a placement, we’ll ensure that additional team members are available to help the young person settle in as quickly as possible.
