Aims

The overall aim of the Unit is to assess the Parents abilities to provide adequate and appropriate care to their baby, and to make recommendations for the future requirements to safeguard the baby. In order to do this, part of the assessment is to support Parents to identify and understand any issues of concern and support them in making necessary changes in their parenting and lifestyle.

We additionally aim to support Younger Parents to parent their baby successfully and to become more independent Young Adults. We aim to address the individual needs of each Young Parent through individual packages of support, determined according to their age and needs, in order to promote their life skills. Our belief is that Young Parents should have their needs as a Young Person addressed in order to assist and support them in meeting the needs of their child, and that often Younger Parents need support in realising their responsibilities for their baby and how to prioritise their needs alongside those of their baby.

We promote good parenting through offering parents positive role models and in participating in educational parenting programmes to enable them to care for their children within the community.

Our overall aim is to ensure that the needs of the baby are paramount to all concerned. Our view is that the baby’s welfare must be protected at all times, and we recognise that at times the needs of the Young Person will conflict with the needs of their baby. We aim to ensure that the baby’s welfare is safeguarded, whilst also enabling and supporting Young People to learn from their experiences.

A key aspect of Gawber Road as a Residential Family Centre is that we aim to provide a realistic family home in order for parents to be able to transfer the skills that they have developed into their own home in the community. This is reflected in the assessments as well as in how the house operates and the expectations of parents.

Objectives

• To undertake a parenting assessment, ensuring that there are clear recommendations for the baby’s future care, and to assist and support the parent in working co-operatively in assessing their abilities to parent, and to support them in understanding the outcomes;

• To provide high quality accommodation in which each Parent/s and their baby have a lockable room, and shared communal areas for recreation, cooking, bathing, toileting, and laundry.

• To advise, assist and support each Parent in developing parenting skills and strategies, and in promoting and safeguarding the welfare of the baby.

• To ensure that each Parent is provided with the emotional support to parent their baby, and to assist them in building and maintaining appropriate relationships with others.

• To ensure that we work as part of a team in supporting Parents, and provide close liaison with other professionals and family members (where appropriate).

• To support the Parent in developing their independent living skills and life skills, where applicable;

• To make links with local support agencies, for example, employment/education or training schemes, Sure Start +, Health Visiting Service, Parent and Child Groups etc. and ensure that Parents access appropriate community resources.