Wrapping support around every child

Standard services also have care plans, but these tend to focus on meeting basic needs and maintaining routines rather than on healing, reflecting a more basic standard of care.

Consistent relationships and an attachment focus. We place real emphasis on building trusting, lasting relationships between staff and children. You are very unlikely to see an agency worker in our homes unless it is an absolute emergency, and we would never staff a home entirely with agency workers. Our management team and Responsible Individual will work a shift with a child rather than bring in agency cover. Because our staff are consistent, children can build positive, stable relationships with the people who care for them, rather than forming unhealthy attachments. Therapeutic homes don't rely on formal therapy sessions alone; the techniques are woven into everyday interactions and routines. Non-therapeutic homes may provide therapy, but it is externally sourced and not embedded in daily life.

Reflective practice and supervision. In our therapeutic homes, staff are encouraged to analyse their interactions with children, and this becomes part of their supervision and training, so they can continually improve, recognise what works, and identify what needs developing. In other services, supervision tends to focus more on performance and audit.

Holistic, long-term outcomes. Our therapeutic services are focused on long-term outcomes, with the aim of improving emotional regulation, self-esteem, and mental health, and helping each child develop their relationship skills. Standard services may focus more on a child's immediate safety and on managing behaviour, rather than on understanding it.