Developing a Safer Caring Plan

Physical contact should be given in a manner, which is safe, protective and avoids the arousal of sexual expectations, feelings or in any way which reinforces sexual stereotypes.

Showing affection could involve physical contact and which you should include in your Safer Caring Plan:

Showing Affection

Warmth and understanding are essential, but everyone needs to know and understand when a relationship is inappropriate.

Young people should always be asked first if they are happy to be touched. They need to be taught by a caring adult to say ‘no’ if they do not want to be touched and what touch is appropriate touch.

Families will all have different ways of showing affection and you need to be careful not to impose your way on others. If touch has meant something other than affection to a young person in the past, they might not understand that when you try to show them affection.

• Put in place clear rules that say bullying is not acceptable and what actions will be taken if the providers suspect bullying or are told of bullying happening;
• Make it clear what the expectations and rules are in your home for everyone;
• Have discussions about bullying and why it matters;
• Be good role models.

You should be clear about how long the young person can be left on their own and whether the young person can be left alone at night, if agreed by the Care team. This should be discussed and agreed at the initial planning meeting, with the social worker and regularly reviewed in care team Meetings.  It is an important step towards independent living. We record this in the living arrangement agreement or within the care team meeting.

You would like to know the young person is safe and you can contact the young person when they’re out and about, whether that is at school, college, work or with friends. 

You need to consider if the young person is ready for a key to let themselves into the house.

It is always important when you do take photos or videos, to ask the young person’s permission first and make sure that they get copies and that they know who else will see them and why.

Be sensitive to how the young person reacts to having their photo taken. 

When the young person uses the internet, take an interest in what they do and agree, when, where and how they will use it.

Young people should have a private space and privacy in their bedroom and providers and any other young people living in the home should knock before entering their room. Supported lodgings providers should not encourage young people to enter their bedrooms.

Providers and those who live there dress appropriately including nightwear.

Relationships, sex and sexuality is important for all of us as we grow up. Young people need to be helped to think about what makes positive relationships. They need to learn how to avoid situations where adults and others can be coercive, exploit and abuse them. They need to understand how to protect themselves and others. Young people need to develop confidence so they can say ‘no’.

The most important thing is that the young person feels they can come and ask you questions and talk to you about the subject if they are not sure. Providers should never share personal experiences about this subject with the young person.

Each provider has their own fire safety policy which is reviewed and updated each year.

Discuss as a family what routes you will take if a fire starts and practice an evacuation. Think about where keys are kept so everybody knows where they will be for the front and back doors and windows.

Generally, we would consider it unnecessary for any providers home to have internal lockable doors, on the same basis as in any ordinary family home.

Homes should be a place of safety, so there should be no need for locks on internal doors other than bathroom/ toilet doors - these should be openable from the outside.  Locks and/ or cameras may have formed part of a young person’s abuse, and living in a home where these are present could be re traumatising for them, making them feel unsafe or scared. Locks should not be used in place of guidance and supervision of young people to manage behaviour.

Where a Supported Lodgings Social Worker or the young person’s social worker/young persons advisor is made aware of locks being fitted or these are observed during home visits, we will work with you to understand whether this is necessary.

If you feel there is a need for any of the rooms in your home to have a lock fitted, you should first discuss this with your Supported Lodgings Social Worker so that you can explore underlying concerns and alternative ways of managing the situation. 

In exceptional circumstances where this is deemed necessary, a risk assessment will be completed with you and must be agreed with the Strategic Manager.  This process must be completed before any locks are fitted. This process will be regularly reviewed in line with the young person’s needs.

Our advice to Supported Lodging’s provided is that CCTV or other forms of video and/or audit surveillance is not necessary or appropriate for monitoring, supervising or managing expectations inside the home. We only recommend the use of ‘dog’ cameras where there is no recordable function.