What we offer
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Our residential assessments focus on providing families with a supportive and nurturing environment where they can thrive and demonstrate their parenting skills to the best of their ability. We aim to educate parents to improve skills, reduce risk and create safety for families whilst undertaking our assessments.
Our assessments can be completed on three frameworks, Impact assessments, PAMs assessments and Parent Assess. We can also offer blended assessments for parents who’s placement may be terminated. Aontacht can complete the assessment in the community if appropriate. This will support care planning preventing drift and delay for children.
Our residential assessments include
– Key worker allocation
– Wellbeing support and check ins
– A baseline parenting assessment,
– A weekly review in house with the family,
– A weekly report sent to the Local Authority,
– 3x 4 weekly review meetings with involved professionals.
– All direct work sessions/program of teaching with the family, including community engagement with activities, services and partner agencies.
– A 12 week assessment with the option for families to remain in placement for up to a further two weeks to support the local authority in any follow on care planning.
– A final report by week 13.
– Varying levels of supervision up to 24/7 support and CCTV monitoring with audio
– Position statements (where required)
– Court attendance and witness evidence
– Re-settlement support during and up to two weeks post placement including building links with services in the family’s own community
Our bespoke teaching program is tailored to meet the individual needs of each family and will cover the following
– Childhood health and wellbeing
– Adult health and wellbeing
– Child development, play and stimulation
– Guidance, boundaries and behaviour management
– Safety, both inside and outside of the home
– Finances and budgeting
– Feeding, nutrition, and cooking skills
– Domesticity
– General parenting skills
– Protection of children
– Direct work specifically aimed at identified risks and safeguarding concerns
Our practice and interventions are influenced by concepts and ideas taken from multiple theoretical models including attachment and attunement, restorative practice, trauma informed practice, supporting neurodivergence in both adults and children, healing centred practice, cognitive behavioural approaches, systemic theory, person centred task centres, psychodynamic and change theory. Our practice is diverse and multi-cultural and our methods include
observation: – The nature of the environment in the house promotes close contact between staff, parents and children therefore observations will take place in person, via CCTV, and via video. Staff will also use observations to identify areas of support or praise which will be provided to parents/carers.
Interventions: – Staff are skilled in direct and indirect observation and are trained to use their assessment skills to make appropriate interventions in a manner which is assertive yet non-threatening. All interventions will prioritise the safety of children.
Key-working sessions: – Offering individual sessions to parents to encourage them to take an active part in contributing to their assessment giving them the opportunity to reflect on observation, learning and opportunities for change. This will include weekly feedback and the opportunity for parents/carers to respond to their weekly reports.
Individual Sessions: – Bespoke work focusing on parents’ experiences and how these impact on their parenting capability.
Parenting sessions: – Individual and group sessions aimed at promoting positive parenting through focusing on the recognition and development of parenting skills.
Involvement in activities: – Families will be encouraged to engage in individual and group activities both in the house and in the wider community. This will include therapeutic play.
Use of tools: – Tools such as the graded care profile 2, signs of safety, Calder’s risk indicators, Home inventory, strengths and difficulties, wellbeing scales, adult learning styles, VIG, DASH risk assessments will be utilised to support intervention and learning
Life story work
Life story work will also be completed for all children and direct work will be initiated with older child residents. Memory boxes will be created for each child and memories of their time with us such as photographs, crafts and memoirs will be provided at the end of their stay with us. We are also able to contribute to later life work for children.
Domestic abuse intervention
Aontacht deliver their domestic abuse support work through the Freedom program. Residents in need of support regarding healthy relationships can take part in this course designed to provide information and examine the roles played by attitudes and beliefs on the actions of abusive partners and the responses of victims and survivors. The aim is to help them make sense of and understand what has happened to them. Our support work also enables the parent to understand complicating factors in everyday life which may impact on domestic abuse and see how children are affected by being exposed to this kind of abuse. We also outline how children’s lives are improved when the abuse no longer occurs.
Therapeutic intervention
Access to psychology services and psychotherapy is available at an additional cost throughout the assessment through our commissioned clinical psychologist. Intervention will be tailored to meet individual need. We have a commissioned counsellor who residents have weekly access to free of charge whilst residing with us.
Complete multi-agency wrap around support
From highly trained staff, allocated social workers and including links with local services such as GP, dentist, health visitors, midwives, drug and alcohol workers, smoking cessation, mental health services, a commissioned counsellor, access to additional mental health/psychological support, domestic abuse services, nurseries, family hubs/Surestart centres, local parenting groups, and other community activities and resources.
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