Care & Support

Fairview Care & Support is committed to valuing young people for who they are, and empowering them to pursue their dreams, regardless of their background or life experiences. Our team strives to promote self-respect, respect for others, and respect for the environment. We educate our young people about different cultures and ways of life to help them gain a better understanding of others and develop as individuals.

Referral Process

All young people who require accommodation and support from us are referred through the local authority commissioning process. Once we receive a referral, we use our impact matching tool to gather further information. This includes communicating with the social workers and other professionals who are involved in supporting the young person, as well as conducting a location assessment, individual risk assessment, and behaviour management plan. Based on this information, we determine whether we can offer the young person accommodation and support while ensuring their safety and well-being.

In the event of an emergency referral, we will still use the matching process as we do for planned referrals. If we find that the match is incompatible, we will unfortunately not be able to offer a placement.

Young People’s Welcome / Induction

Once a young person moves into one of our homes, they will receive a welcome pack that's divided into three sections: Welcome, Expectations, and Agreements. This pack will be a part of their induction process and will provide them with an introduction to the home. It will also contain information on topics like bullying, safeguarding, visitors, and finances, all presented in a youthful and user-friendly format. At Fairview, we believe in operating in an anti-oppressive way and don't use the term "rules." Instead, we lay out our expectations for the individual towards their home and staff teams.

Health

Our organization ensures that young people have complete access to community health services. We assist them in registering with a general practitioner and a dentist. We collaborate with external health professionals, such as CAMHs, addiction, and Catch-22, to provide targeted services, if necessary. Our risk assessments cover emotional and physical well-being issues, which allows us to highlight any changes or concerns in these areas to their staff team, who can then address the concerns. Our staff promotes physical and emotional health through support sessions and Individual Learning Plans (ILPs). When our young people reach the age of 17 and a half, we help them obtain a health passport from their LAC (looked after children) nurse, refer them for a free local authority gym membership, and make and attend health appointments.

The Voice of the Child

At Fairview, we value the opinions and feelings of our young people, and we make sure to listen to them. We document "the voice of the child" in various ways such as weekly overviews, support sessions, and monthly meetings, where they can express their wishes, opinions, and feelings in a safe and welcoming environment. We encourage them to take charge of the meetings by chairing them and taking minutes, which helps to foster self-empowerment, social inclusion, confidence, and self-esteem.

If our young people require further support, we will assist them by completing a referral for advocacy on their behalf, so they can feel confident that they are being constructively supported.

Training for young people with the staff team

All young people residing in our homes will be given access and login credentials to the Leaving Care Training Hub. This platform provides care-leavers with an opportunity to educate themselves on a wide range of topics, including first aid, fire safety, food hygiene, health and safety, missing from home, and court appearances. The courses have been developed in collaboration with other care-experienced individuals and are tailored to equip young people with the skills and knowledge necessary to live independently.

Upon completing a course, each individual will receive a certificate that can be included in their moving-on file, helping them to build their CVs. Additionally, monthly face-to-face training sessions are available, enabling young people to discuss any courses they would like to take.

Risk Management

Before we offer our services, we conduct a thorough assessment of a young person's needs, preferences, and potential risks. Our goal is to ensure that the support we provide is tailored to meet the individual needs of each person. We make sure to re-assess needs and risks as frequently as necessary and ensure that our support has the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Right from the beginning of the referral process, we engage with all relevant parties to ensure that the needs and risks assessment process is collaborative and inclusive.

Matching

At Fairview, we strive to provide a safe environment for the young people we support. We begin by actively screening them for any risk indicators, such as violent behaviour, child exploitation (including sexual, gangs, radicalization, trafficking, and slavery), and substance misuse. We also consider their history of going missing from home. This screening process helps us identify any risks that our young people may pose to each other and enables us to match them accordingly. To ensure sustainability and risk management, we use a compatibility impact matching tool to determine the young person's suitability for our service.

Transition to Independence

Provisions should be established to ensure that comprehensive support and resources are available to facilitate the acquisition of essential skills that will enable a young individual to successfully transition to an independent lifestyle.

At Fairview, we strive to assist young individuals in achieving independence with ease. To that end, we encourage our youth to participate in our Independent Living Program, which covers a variety of topics and issues that we believe will help them become self-sufficient adults. Some of the subjects covered in the program include:

Finance - This topic is designed to introduce our young people to the basic concepts of money management, through completing practical exercises, taking part in discussions, and identifying typical expenditures after leaving school or college and living independently.

Transport - This topic is designed to teach young people the skills required to travel independently using the local bus or train links.

Home Safety - This topic has both a practical and theory-based learning process and will assist staff in determining if young people are enabled to wash and dry crockery and cutlery to an acceptable standard, clean windows, etc, the young people will learn how to save energy and reduce costs involved in running a home. The young people will have the opportunity to consider the potential impact of the overuse of energy resources and examine practical ways to conserve energy and water in the home.

Personal Care - During this topic, young people will learn the importance of dressing appropriately for an occasion. they will consider the effects of fashion and price when making their choices. they will know their personal clothing sizes.

Our property manager will also complete 1:1 direct work with all of our young people which will cover the following.

    • How to apply for Universal Credit

    • Rental payments – How often should this be paid?

    • Meters – How do I maintain and budget them?

    • Maintenance – How do I report a maintenance issue? Who do I report it to? What should I look out for?

    • Property Inspections – What do these mean and how often are they done?

    • Implications of Anti-Social behaviour and how it affects my tenancy?

    • How do I report an emergency and who do I report it to?

    • How do I navigate and bid on the Property Pool/Under One Roof websites?

    • How do I register on Property Pool/Under One Roof?

    • What do the bandings mean and how do they apply to me?

    • What documents will be needed to register and how I qualify.

    • How do I set up auto-bidding?

    • How many bids can I place?

    • How do I know when I have been offered a property?

    • How does Universal credit work and how do I apply?

    • What is a move-in grant and how does it work?

    • What items will I need to furnish my property and what will it cost?

    • Where and how can I source fittings and furnishings?

    • How do I collect my keys?

    • What documents should the landlord provide me with?

    • Understanding my tenancy agreement

    • What are my obligations as a tenant?

    • What are my landlord’s obligations?

    • How do I set up utilities and different types of meters?

    • What is council tax exemption and does it apply to me?