Children as individuals

As an important element within Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services, Swanwick Lodge is committed to Hampshire’s Children’s Plan. This plan shares the Department for Children, Schools and Families vision to make England the best place in the world for children to grow up.

Hampshire promises children that:-

“We will work together to ensure that you receive an excellent education and enjoy opportunities for

• Learning and leisure

• Recreation and play

• Sport and creativity

Your involvement in decision making will ensure that our services are relevant accessible and of high quality. Where there are barriers to your participation we will do everything that we can to remove them.

We will celebrate your achievements and respond quickly when you need support.

We will be there to learn from and work with your parents and carers so that together we can do the best for you and, when called upon, we can act as good parents to the children and young people in our care.

And we want you to enjoy being you.”

At Swanwick Lodge we understand we live and work in a diverse society and we believe that by understanding more about the needs of the individual helps us to embrace what cultural diversity means. We are working towards creating an environment where our work and care practices are sufficiently flexible to ensure the children, staff and visitorsare confident thatethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, race, age, and disability form part of our holistic approach.

All children and young people admitted to Swanwick Lodge have a placement plan and are all encouraged to actively contribute to it. Placement Planning is one of the most important aspects of the placement of a child at Swanwick Lodge as it drives all of our work with a child and is the tool through which we measure progress and outcomes. It clearly identifies how a child’s needs are met on a day to day basis covering all elements of the child’s education, emotional and behavioural development, relationships with family and peers, therapeutic work, identity and social presentation, taking onboard any pertinent facts such as:-

• The reasons for their admission and any other issues pertinent at that time etc.

• Any legal issues or pending court appearances

• Educational requirements

• Behaviour on the unit/risk assessment

• Healthcare

• Recreation

• Religious and cultural issues

• Parental involvement and visits

• Through-care and onward placement

i) Religious Observance

All children will receive broad religious awareness as part of the educational curriculum and all Hampshire County Council Children’s Services staff undertake an annual training course in equality and diversity.  Swanwick Lodge staff are trained in religious observance and good links have been made with places of worship, such as the local mosques and church. Members of the staff team act as ‘departmental advisors’ should their colleagues or the young people need further support. They also run ‘fun activities’ via the education and enrichment programmes to reinforce awareness amongst the young people.

With respect to individual religious observance₅ all children have access to ministers of religion and specific individual arrangements are put into place when this is required, including the purchase of prayer mats, prayer and other religious books, rosary beads and so forth as well as the use of a quiet room for reflection.

ii) Identity

Cultural

Swanwick Lodge will as far is at all possible, meet the cultural requirements of children placed at the facility. This includes, dress, language, diet, cosmetic products (such as cocoa butter or body oil), access to interpreters and translated documents and so forth. Where identified spoken language needs cannot be met from within Swanwick Lodge, expert advice and input will be sought from HCC’s Children’s Services Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS).

Sexual orientation

Adolescence is a period of dramatic morphological and emotional development, during which sexual awareness develops. Help is provided through our educational and health programmes, with individual counselling directed at the needs of our individual young people and delivered sensitively and without prejudice.

iii) Inclusion/ disability

At Swanwick lodge young people are given equal opportunities to develop as responsible individuals, regardless of their educational or social background. This is achieved by tailoring the young person’s individual and education plans to their specific needs.

With regards to the building, Swanwick Lodge was built and designed with access for people with mobility stated difficulties and one bedroom has been designed to be accessed by a person who is wheel chair dependent.  In addition we offer appropriate services to visually or hearing impaired children as necessary. Disability is not seen as a barrier to access our services, though sometimes a challenge that we meet.

iv) Children/ young people whose first language is not English

Swanwick Lodge has access to interpreters through the EMTAS service and they in turn would attend meetings with the young person (informal and formal), offer support during the education programme and act as an independent visitor, if so required. Documents requiring translation can be made available to the young person within minutes by using the free and simple online google translation service, which we have found invaluable

iv) Maintaining Family Links

From the point of admission, if appropriate, the children and young people who enter our care are encouraged to maintain regular contact with parents and or care workers.  (Visits from parents/carers and significant others take place following authorisation with the case holder). This usually takes the form of a daily telephone contact with immediate family and significant others₆, written contact and twice weekly visits. (Phone calls and stamps are free.) We actively encourage contact with family and significant others through visits to the facility as well as through telephone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails as we believe they have an important role to play in the rehabilitation and resettlement process. Parents/carers are encouraged to attend all meetings and reviews in respect of the young person and to fully participate in the young persons Placement Plan and Individual Positive Behaviour Management Plan. They are also made aware of our procedures for visits Family members, subject to any issues of risk, are encouraged to visit Swanwick Lodge on a regular basis. Whilst visits are supervised, it is in as unobtrusive a manner as safety will allow - and family members will be kept informed of how their child is progressing / developing on a regular basis.

It is our view that positive changes within a child’s life are significantly increased with family involvement, particularly in terms of the individual therapeutic work with the child. In particular, with regard to family therapy, in which our psychology team encourages all members of a family to take an active part in their work with their child, to address underlying issues that may have led to the placement of the child in the secure unit.

_{5The wishes of those with parental responsibility will always be sought.
6Significant others are agreed by the social worker or YOT worker responsible for the case of the young person.}

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