A new report reveals the significant barriers families can encounter in trying to keep in touch with children who are in residential placements.
The issue affects thousands of children and young people with a learning disability who live in specialist residential placements that are often hundreds of miles from home.
Limited contact: some residential placements restricted communication between families and their children, who may be living hundreds of miles away
These placements could include residential special schools or colleges, mental health assessment and treatment units, and children’s homes.
The study is the first time guidance has been issued on how residential settings should ensure that parents can keep in touch with children who have been placed there.
The report, Keeping in Touch with Home, is based on research with families. Their children (some now young adults) were in residential placements while having complex needs, limited verbal communication, and behaviour described as challenging.
Criticisms from parents
The document, produced by the Challenging Behaviour Foundation and Mencap, reveals several criticisms from parents. These include:
• Parents being asked to stay away when their child or young person started in a new setting
• Parents not being kept informed, for example about changes in medication or hospital visits
• Staff applying blanket policies, meaning that families could not take advantage of helpful visual technologies such as Skype
• Some placements deciding to respond to family criticism by limiting visits and communication with parents.
These parents were distraught at being shut out, while they saw their young person’s health and behaviour deteriorate. One father commented: “It’s always in the back of your mind when you complain… They’ve got your daughter there and you’re not there. If you are starting not to trust them, it’s a very slippery slope.”
‘Out of the picture’
A family carer who was involved in the report said: “When staff, for whatever reason, do not promote the importance of family and home contact, alarm bells should ring. We have experienced being placed very firmly, not just on the sidelines, but virtually out of the picture altogether.”
Where good communication between children and their families takes place, it was found that the outcomes can be good for all. One family carer reported: “It can be no coincidence that she is so much happier, and more settled than she has been for a long time.”
The report suggests that commissioners and providers should use this resource so that effective support for keeping families in touch becomes normal practice, rather than the exception.
The report covers:
• Learning from families. Families’ vision of the support and attitudes needed to help them keep in touch and a summary of their experiences.
• Learning from local practice. Case studies of good practice in local settings, with ‘Good practice’ checklists.
• The legal framework. An overview of legal rights and duties around keeping in touch with family and involvement in decision-making. This covers human rights, education, social care and mental health legislation and guidance.
The report can be downloaded here.
Shock of separation
James Robinson, policy lead for children and young people at Mencap, and Jacqui Shurlock at the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, said in a joint statement: “The ‘shock of separation’ can be devastating for families when a child or young person with a learning disability has to live away from home.
“Even the most committed of parents struggle to maintain a strong relationship with a child who has limited communication skills, living on the other side of the country.
“Family bonds matter so much to all children, especially to those who rely on their parents and siblings to understand and communicate their needs and preferences.
“Keeping in touch should be a clear focus in children and young people’s care plans, not an after-thought. Children with learning disabilities shouldn’t have to live away from home, but if they must, then their right to family life must be supported and promoted.
“We urge central government, local authorities, health commissioners and residential settings to follow the recommendations made in this report to drive much-needed improvements in practice.”
Residential placements: the numbers
According to Mencap, more than 6,000 children board in residential special schools and more than 2,000 young people attend specialist colleges on a residential basis. Around 165 under-18s and 725 young adults (aged 18-25 years) are in-patients in mental health assessment and treatment units (ATUs). An unknown number of disabled children (probably in the low thousands) live in children’s homes.
Published: 17 September 2016
