Residential Family Assessment is a specialist, time limited, programme designed to evaluate whether parents are able to safely care for and meet the developing needs of their child/ren. Decisions for families to be assessed within a residential family centre are made by the courts and children’s social care.
Keys Group operates three Family Assessment Centres, each providing specialist support to families facing complex challenges, including a range of issues for example substance misuse, domestic abuse, mental health, parents that have experienced past care proceedings as well as those with additional learning needs.
Parents often come to us having experienced trauma and life challenges. All of our Centres provide a homely environment where parents can feel safe. We implement structured routines and parents are supported to develop their parenting skills and reflect on both past and present challenges providing parents with the knowledge and skills to effect sustainable changes to safely care for their baby.
Within our Family Assessment Centres we actively choose not to use CCTV preferring to use a more personalised approach. We supervise families in person so that we can provide parents with hands on parenting support, guidance and role modelling. We value the importance of building positive working relationships with families in order to provide them with the best possible opportunity during their time with us.
A multiagency team made up of social workers, health visitor, specialist services, trained key/family support workers combined with input from local authorities, are used to inform the assessments to provide an evidence-based outcome in relation to the child’s future as to whether the parents are able to safely meet their developing needs throughout their childhood. Our Residential Assessment Centres ensure that families receive the appropriate support and guidance while the safety and wellbeing of the child is of the highest priority. We use both a child centred and trauma informed approach within our assessments.
One of our centres is Victoria Villa, where parents are supported to build confidence, establish stable routines, and engage fully with staff, while maintaining their dignity and privacy throughout the assessment process. Recently, Victoria Villa welcomed a family with a complex history, they arrived from hospital with their newborn, due to concerns in relation to parental substance misuse. Once a secure and comfortable household, their substance use had escalated, resulting in job loss, housing instability, prison time and the removal of their older children through the court procedure.
Upon their arrival the parents realised the seriousness of their situation, and both presented as being willing and open to engage with the assessment, within Victoria Villa’s structured and supportive environment. The parents built trusting relationships with staff through 1-1 support and were supported to reflect on their lived experiences which had led to the family being admitted to a residential parenting assessment and the removal of their older children. The parents were supported to implement a routine for their baby, adapting the routine as their baby developed.
Parents acknowledged their past struggles, reflected on the removal of their older children, and completed a structured programme to become substance free, which included individual and group support and practical strategies to manage cravings and triggers. Maintaining sobriety during the assessment was a key milestone, this achievement showed that the parents could sustain change in a structured environment.
Therefore, at week 9 of the assessment with the agreement from the placing authority a plan was put in place for the family to start an early transition into the community to assess whether the changes made in the centre were sustainable in the community. The transition/community-based assessment consisted of staff attending the family home to observe routines, offer guidance, and ensure that the skills and positive changes developed in the residential setting could be maintained at home and in the community. The home visit was made up of both announced and unannounced visit by a multiagency team working with the family. The community-based sessions were a natural extension of the Victoria Villa assessment, confirming that the parents could consistently provide safe and nurturing care for baby outside the centre.
The outcome of the assessment was positive. The family remained together, with ongoing support from social workers, specialist services and the placing authority to maintain stability and consistency of parenting for baby. The community-based assessment confirmed that the parents had successfully demonstrated the skills, reflection, and capacity required to care safely for their newborn. The team at Victoria Villa were reassured that the structured, supportive environment had provided a strong foundation for the family’s future.
Giving Back After Victoria Villa
After returning home with their baby, the parents remained keen to stay connected with Victoria Villa and share their experiences with other families. In partnership with the team, a peer mentoring plan was developed, with clear boundaries and a written agreement to ensure confidentiality for all families involved.
Since then, the family have visited the centre regularly, speaking openly with parents currently undergoing assessments about the realities of the process and the work involved in returning home with their child. The parents’ honesty and encouragement has helped reassure other families who may feel anxious or uncertain at the start of their journey.
The father has also offered to meet with other fathers, providing informal peer support and sharing his own experiences of engaging with the assessment and adjusting to life at home.
The Victoria Villa team are excited to continue developing this peer mentoring initiative, recognising the powerful impact that lived experience can have in encouraging and supporting other families.
Written by Faith Harrison, Marketing Executive, and Katy Millington, Family Assessment Referrals Coordinator
