Support For Young People
Our Young People support is generally for children aged between 12 and 18. Support can be accessed as an intensive 24-hour 2:1 residential support package or less intensive provision for respite, crisis management or to bridge gaps between placements. Every teenager will require different types of assistance which can range from whole family to individual person support.
If you are a parent without funding in place, please refer to INFORMATION FOR PARENTS.
Supporting the Young Person
Freedom Children’s Social Care will take time to understand the needs of the individual and the risks that each set of circumstances presents. We will establish a working protocol for the team working with the young person and a working arrangement document which will be shared with all concerned at our initial meeting.
It is vital that we establish these working documents in order for our staff to be able to provide a level of consistency as they work, allowing us to establish expectations and boundaries for our work with the young person.
Working with teenagers you have to be adaptive and so continually review the working protocols for both our team and the individual concerned in order to ensure they are relevant and current.
Freedom Children’s Social Care support for teenagers is available in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight.
Accessing Meaningful pastimes
It is vital that the young person is engaged with meaningful pastimes to ensure they are kept busy and ensure they continue to develop skills. Our service will incorporate a daily routine for the young person that will ensure they stay motivated and busy.
Healthy and Happy
Our team are dedicated to ensuring all have access to healthy food and regular exercise. The young person will be involved in meal planning, preparation and keeping their environment clean and tidy. Positive meaningful relationships, attitudes and concepts surrounding mental health and how to stay mentally healthy will also be promoted as part of our basic working practices.
Staff will develop positive professional relationships with the individual to encourage them to talk about their feelings and to seek solutions to issues they are facing.
Education
We will work with Social Workers to create a schedule that includes education, this might be in the form of tutoring or alternative education.
Transportation
Our staff are insured to carry young people in their cars and can therefore collect and drop them off if this is required. Dependent on the number of young people and their behaviour we may require more than one worker to ensure their safety whilst being transported.
Supported hand overs and transitions can also be provided using the transport service.
Training and Supervision
Freedom abides by safer recruitment practices and all staff are trained by us in the provision of support, which includes a period working alongside an experienced member of staff.
As part of our quality assurance staff are regularly visited whilst working to ensure they are following all company instructions and assessed for ongoing training and support. Regular supervision plays an important part of individuals personal professional development we also provide opportunities for teams to have group supervision and workshops which allow us to develop best practices by using reflectiveness to develop the teams skills and experience.
In addition to holding a Childcare or Social care qualification our support workers will have attended courses in Safeguarding Level 3, FGM, Prevent, Channel Awareness, CSE, De-escalation and Managing Difficult Situations, Mental Health Awareness, Drug and Alcohol Awareness, ACES, ASD and ADHD Food Hygiene Level 2 and First Aid.
Reporting and Inter Agency Working
Our use of online collaborative tools will ensure you as a social worker or lead professional will always be kept fully in the picture. Our method of tracking progress real time on a minute by minute basis give everyone a clear insight into progress, challenges faced and allows evidenced based decisions to made.
Freedom have vast experience of working with the Police and other professionals and will always ensure information in shared to best help the young person.
At the end of a period of support work, Freedom staff will write a handover document to ensure the young persons transitions into care or other facilities is robust and seamless.