Network Success!

Our first Children’s Home Networking Event was a success and the first step of bringing private sector children’s services and local authority services together in Oxfordshire.

There were representatives from a number of organisations in attendance including Keys, Action for Children and new company Habicare along with registered managers and assistant managers from Oxfordshire County Council homes.

The delegates started the day exploring their value base and how this translates to expectations of children living in their homes, with a real life example from a child in care of what they want from the adults that care for them.

Next up was a very informative and useful overview of effective support for children who are being exploited or at risk of being exploited living in children’s homes. Fred Toon is the exploitation coordinator for Lambeth Council and spoke about strategies for addressing concerns, the NRM and multi-agency responses to exploitation.

During lunch, delegates were given the chance to win a luxury gift basket worth over £100! The task was to throw three darts with the highest score winning the prize. The lucky winner was Flynn Presland, an assistant team manager within an Oxfordshire County Council Home.

The afternoon was started off with a presentation from our very own Liam Walker around neurodevelopment and the impact of behaviour on placement stability which seemed to give food for thought for many in attendance. Liam was formerly a Registered Manger within Oxfordshire County County as well as shaping and overseeing behaviour support with its Residential and Edge of Care Service.

The day was rounded off by the former Standards, Development and Compliance Manager for Oxfordshire County Council, Lindsay Truby who educated us all around recording in children’s homes and the impact of language on children and cultures of care. Lindsay was instrumental in the development of Oxfordshires Residential and Edge of Care Service and played a huge part in the way that the local authority cares for children within its homes.

There were lots of constructive discussions and the sharing of ideals, experience and the challenges that children’s homes are facing. We think that the gift bags went down well and we hope that our pens and notebooks are getting a lot of use in homes across the county today. Judging by the response, we are guessing that the sweets and shortbread will have long been eaten!

We have learned a lot ourselves from the experience of hosting our first networking day and will put that knowledge to good use ready for the next one.

We are hoping that this is just the start of a journey to better understanding, collaboration, innovation and sharing of ideals and practice for children’s services in Oxfordshire and that this has a positive impact on the outcomes for children in the future.