A Placement for Every Child:

A learning event on meeting the needs of under 16s moving from unregulated accommodation

Of interest to residential child care providers, other organisations working with children in care, commissioners, regulation 44 visitors and regulators

In the wake of the announcement that unregulated accommodation will be banned for under 16s by Rt Hon Gavin Williamson, MP and the Department for Education we are facilitating a learning event, virtually, on 11th May to explore how providers, commissioners, the regulator and other interested parties can respond to create capacity in the sector.

Money alone will not be a solution – it will require expertise, adaptability and not a little creative passion to create specialist provision within a tight timeline. This event will include presentations on the nature of the difficulty, the legal framework, potential barriers and opportunities and small group activity to identify ways in which the sector might productively respond to meet this challenge and ensure we have child-centred, effective, loving and homely environments to properly care for these young people.

Event Programme

10        Introduction

John Woodhouse is the managing director at dialogue and will describe the programme for the day

10:15   The story so far… DfE policy development and learning from local authorities

Callum Worsnop has a background in policy development for disadvantaged young people, children’s services policy and children’s homes. He currently heads the team for unregulated and unregistered provision at the Department for Education. Callum will present what the DfE’s national policy aims for unregulated provision are, and the learning from discussions with local authorities and others across the country and explain how this has informed policy development to date.

11:00   Profiling placements

Liz Cooper is the deputy chief executive officer for the Independent Children’s Homes’ Association. With a career in residential child care and as a former Responsible Individual and Operations Director, Liz brings a strong understanding of young people’s experiences and how to reach their potential with the right support. Liz has been in conversations with providers across the sector, examining the vacancy rates and learning about some of the factors that affect placement of these most needy of young people.

11:45   Sector discussions

Participants will be grouped by sector in breakout rooms to reflect on the morning’s discussions and consider some of the opportunities and barriers to resolving the issue of placement of under 16s. Their comments will feed into the afternoon’s discussions.

12:45   Lunch

1:30     Successful placements

Christine Freestone is a senior consultant with dialogue and brings experience from health, education, inspectorate and as an RI. She will explore research around the most successful children’s homes and a structured approach to safe and positive placements

2:15     Feedback

John Woodhouse will summarise the group feedback from the morning

2:30     Inter-disciplinary learning groups

Participants will work in mixed groups to reflect on the day with a solution-focused approach to creating placement opportunities for young people

3:00     Panel & plenary

John Woodhouse, Callum Worsnop, Liz Cooper & Christine Freestone will listen to thoughts and views from the groups and consider how as a sector we respond to the challenge

4:00     Close

Book here

Select ‘Residential Care/Residential Schools’ then ‘A Placement for Every Child’ from the options below.

For more information or a discussion about your training needs, please indicate this in your registration form  or contact us.