Statement of Purpose

Mission Statement

Right Choice Services is an organisation who provides supported accommodation for young people who are looked after by the local authority. Our ethos is to empower our young people to optimise their lives and create dignity, independence, social inclusion, choice, and decision making within a safe environment that is specific to their needs.

We work closely with our young people supporting them through their transition to independence with an emphasis on them respecting themselves, their environment, and neighbours and taking responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

We also work towards promoting awareness so that they can achieve the life goals and aspirations that they have set for themselves. We understand that our young people’s life experiences may have impacted on their life chances, and it is hence a priority of Right Choice Services to build positive relationships and enable them to develop independent living skills and actively participate in the community.

Our service is able to provide specialist services for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). We ensure that all UASC are culturally matched with experienced staff, who speak numerous languages such as Albanian, Greek, Romanian, Arabic and Farsi. This ensures that we meet the children’s cultural, and identity needs and often offering support with language barriers to access services in the community. We also provide specialist services for young people who may have been involved in gangs, county lines, knife crime, exploitation including CSE, LGBTQ community and mental health difficulties, working towards improving their social and personal development. Our staff team have extensive knowledge, training and experience in this field and have over 15 years’ experience working with challenging behaviour. We have access to an in-house social worker and gang support worker whose aim is to reduce the involvement and impact of gang activity.

We have specific units for 18+ young people who may require ongoing support from the Local Authority before being moved into their own accommodation. These units provide our 18+ residents with an opportunity to test and hone their skills prior to taking full responsibility for managing their own tenancy.

Brief Profile

Right Choice Services focuses on providing 16+ accommodation and support for young people, providing them with the opportunity to build a positive future. We provide our young people with a safe, friendly, warm, and homely environment and our ethos is to empower young people to build independence, make positive choices and to understand their rights and responsibilities.

We are dedicated and committed to working in partnership with the professional network in ensuring that the varying and often complex needs of our young people are met. This is achieved and maintained through attending different meetings (LAC reviews, PEP/College meetings, strategy/disruption meetings, Youth Offending Service case reviews, etc.), liaising and networking with the police, educational and health establishments, Social Services, Youth Offending Teams, and other agencies to address concerns and promote best opportunities. At Right Choice Services we work alongside our young people’s Social Workers and their Personal Advisors, as well as with local education provisions (Colleges and apprenticeship programmes) to ensure that our residents are enrolled in education and training and prevent them from becoming NEET (not in employment, education, or training).

Introduction

Right Choice Services provides young people aged 16+ with the opportunity to live independently with support as necessary, depending on their needs. The purpose of our projects is to provide housing with support to vulnerable young people in care and help them to learn independence and life skills.

Our staff members enable young people to gain confidence and support them to make positive life choices. Each young person has the opportunity to be supported with managing their own tenancy, finances, maintaining access to the community and building their future. Our aim is to build confidence, self-esteem, independent skills and encouragement to access training and education in order to make a successful transition to adulthood.

Aims & Objectives

Objectives for young people:

To provide a structured, supportive, and safe environment that is free from prejudice and discrimination.
To create an environment that gives young people the opportunity to express their views, wishes and feelings.
To support young people to obtain the skills they require to make a successful transition to adulthood.
To constantly strive to improve our service by obtaining feedback from our young people, their families, and the agencies we work alongside.
To encourage and develop the self-esteem, aspirations, and confidence of the individual by ensuring that they remain fully involved in all decision-making processes.
To support our young people to develop and maintain good self-management, social, communication, relationship management and financial management skills.
To actively encourage young people to achieve educationally and to seek vocational training and employment.
To promote healthy living – to educate around substance misuse, healthy diet and accessing health care.

Objectives of the support team

To build a positive and effective working relationship with the young people we support.
To support and encourage young people to increase their independence skills.
To work in close collaboration with all referring agencies and other multi-disciplinary teams to ensure our young people are able to access all available support.
To attend all relevant meetings with regards to the welfare of our young people especially all their Child Looked After (CLA) Reviews, Personal Education Plan (PEP) meetings, placement stability meetings and pathway planning meetings.
To provide up-to-date, comprehensive monthly reports on the progress made by the young person whilst on placement with us.
To deliver services within an equal opportunities framework and to actively demonstrate anti-discriminatory working practices.

To achieve our Aims and Objectives we:

Deliver a quality service in partnership with the young people and the placing Local Authorities and other support services on how best to meet the young people’s needs.
Agree a structured plan of support with input from the young person and their placing Local Authority.
Provide all young people placed with us with a very experienced and stable support team.
Encourage young people to share their views and input into their own plans.
Provide young people with a designated and dedicated key worker. The key worker and the young person will complete a plan within the first two weeks of placement identifying SMART realistic short and long-term goals with a view to meet the young bespoke needs. This plan is reviewed monthly to monitor progress.
To provide regular written reports to the local authority and other interested parties as determined/guided by the placing local authority.
Establish and enhance appropriate and positive relationships, with the network of family and friends who will be involved with supporting the young person once they leave care.
To provide all of our young people with high quality accommodation which meets their needs whilst encouraging personal choice and at the same time promoting “a sense of home and belonging”.

Ethos

Right Choice Services ethos is that the needs and welfare of every young person is of paramount importance. This is the central foundation of all our work with the main focus being relationship building and bringing a sense of belonging. We understand the need to have staff that can adapt, learn and be confident in managing challenging situations. To achieve this, we guarantee all our support staff full access to our ongoing training programme, regular supervision and 24-hour telephone support delivered via the management team. Our young people are offered bespoke tailored support packages that meet their individual needs.

We believe that each young person we support has the fundamental right to:

Be regarded as an individual and be given the opportunity to build positive relationships with staff.
Be supported by people who are capable of understanding their needs and are competent to meet those needs.
Be treated equally, and no less favourably than others, receive respect and understanding regarding their cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs.
Receive prompt attention in relation to all of their healthcare needs.
Be safe, feel supported and always know that “someone cares”.
Be informed about all important decisions that affect them, and for them to have a say in those decision.
Be afforded privacy for themselves and their belongings and be afforded dignity, at all times.
Have the opportunity to think independently, and make their own choices as far as is reasonably practical and safe.
Complain about anything they feel is unfair or unjust, and to have that complaint listened to and responded to.

Our Commitment

Work with each young person, social workers, relatives, and partners towards identifying, implementing, and reviewing a personal support plan which adequately reflects the young person’s needs.
Work with young people to manage any challenging behaviours, facilitating them to take full advantage of all opportunities.
Promote independent living, working within the young person’s range of abilities and competencies.
Deliver support in a manner which is non-discriminatory, sensitive to the cultural needs of the young person and respectful of their environment and traditions.
Provide a high-quality flexible, responsive, and non–intrusive service that is tailored to the needs of the individual.
Ensure that confidential information is protected at all times and only shared with others strictly in accordance with our policy on confidentiality.
Work in partnership with other agencies involved in order to ensure a seamless and cost-effective service.
Work with independent advocacy services to ensure that the views of our young people are heard.

Our Mission & Vision

We understand that looked after young people are vulnerable and may be disadvantaged when compared to their peers within the general population. Lack of familial, practical, emotional, and financial support may make their transition to adulthood more complex and difficult to navigate.
Our service aims to provide a helping and supportive hand to young people in transition to adulthood and independent living. We know and understand how difficult most young people leaving care find the process of moving onto independence; this includes worries around practical and financial matters but also social isolation and lack of emotional support. We aim to provide professional support systems, which are specifically aimed at developing the necessary life skills, resilience, and confidence to mitigate some of these challenges.
We are committed to providing high standards in all aspects of our work and remain focused on partnership working to ensure our young people achieve best possible outcomes. We currently use Coram’s “Life in your Hands” book to support our young people through 1:1 key working sessions to develop their life skills in all areas; this includes, but is not limited to, budgeting, health, employment, managing a tenancy and community inclusion.
We work closely with local authorities to progress care/pathway planning for young people in their care and ensuring they are fulfilling their statutory duties and responsibilities. We also offer such support in line with current Ofsted framework around Supported Accommodation Regulations 2023.

Staffing & Recruitment

Our staff members are experienced in working with and supporting young people to develop their life skills in preparation for independence. Management and staff have a wide range of experience and expertise in this field. This includes a registered social worker, fostering experience, working in registered children’s homes, mental health, CSE and gang/CCE experience.

All support staff are provided with regular training and supervision.
All are recruited using our safe recruitment policy, have an enhanced DBS check and are required to have provided 2 years of checked references before they are offered training.
The unit’s staff induction training is robust and overseen by the Team Leaders & Service Manager.
Our staff work effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
There is sufficient flexibility in staffing numbers to accommodate the changing needs of our young people.
We have a clear management structure that will work effectively to deliver services.

Staffing Levels

Right Choice Services staff are competent to meet the needs of young people who have high, medium, and low support needs. Our homes are staffed day and night and no young person is ever left without support. Support hours are flexible and take account of the needs of each young person placed. Staff hours are focused upon the specific needs of the young person and arranged to ensure they fit in with other commitments such as college or work.

We are able to offer bespoke packages, which includes 1:1 support staffing if requested by the placing local authority. Additional support is reviewed monthly and can be increased or reduced as the needs of the young person alter.

Senior Management Team

Our Director holds a Diploma in Leadership and Management and an NVQ3 qualification in Health and Social Care. With over 17 years’ of social care experience, he has gained a wealth of knowledge and skills in working with children and young people in a semi-independent setting, residential care homes, challenging behaviour, fostering services and outreach support.

Our Service Manager holds a BA (hons) Education Studies & Level 5 Diploma in Leadership & Management in Children & Young Peoples Services. She has over 15 years’ experience in working with children and young people in various settings including residential, respite and educational facilities. She has over four years supervisory experience in managing staff and is the Designated Safeguarding Lead with responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns to Local Authority and LADO. She supervises the Team Leaders, as well as providing training and support to staff members. She oversees the daily running of our provisions along with making sure all policies and procedures are in place including Health and Safety.

Brief description of staff roles:

Support Workers - each young person is allocated a key worker, who is responsible for providing 1:1 weekly life skills key working sessions. They will also accompany the young person to appointments, support with other agencies and complete paperwork such as progress reports and risk assessments.
Team Leaders - all Team Leaders have extensive experience in working with young people. Team Leaders also have enhanced skills in supporting young people with challenging behaviours and additional needs. The Team leader group are able to provide support to less experienced support staff and undertake some management functions such as supervising support workers.
Service Manager - is responsible for quality assuring policies and procedures, compliance with the Local Authority’s requirements, supervision of the Team leaders, any staffing issue including disciplinary matters, undertaking tasks in the Director’s absence, chairing management meetings and providing training and workshops to Managers and Support Workers.
Designated Safeguarding Lead - is responsible for safeguarding matters, reporting safeguarding concerns to the Local Authority and LADO and providing training and support to staff members.
Consultant - We also utilise the experience and expertise of a qualified social worker in relation to practice standards and auditing purposes periodically or as required.

Staff Training & Development

Right Choice Services ethos is to ensure that all staff are well equipped to undertake their role safely and confidently. Each key worker receives supervision every 4-6 weeks and new staff members are supervised once every two weeks until they have completed all required training and their manager deems them competent to lone work. All staff undergo an induction period, of at least 6 weeks, and in-house training programme so that are prepared and familiar with the role and environment prior to any lone working taking place. Induction always includes shadowing experienced staff.

Right Choice Services supports staff performance and ongoing professional development through the use of our appraisal scheme. All staff have their performance appraised annually against individual competencies and service targets. We expect staff to evidence ongoing training has been undertaken as part of this appraisal. We have a robust performance management policy, and all staff are provided with our performance policy as part of their induction. We are aware of our duties as an employer and utilise the services of an independent organisation to manage any performance issues which may lead to further action being taken against any of our employees.

Right Choice Services have experienced key workers who deliver exacting standards of support to our young people. All key workers are either qualified at or working towards Diploma Level 4 in Children and Young People residential care and are up to date with all mandatory training. We also offer various learning opportunities to our support staff to pursue and establish a specialism in an area of practice or direct work with young people to better meet the individual needs of our young people.

Performance Issues

We have a robust policy dealing with all performance issues in the workplace. This policy is provided to staff as part of the employment handbook and signed for to ensure it has been read and understood. In the first instance staff will have the opportunity to raise any issues in supervision. If issues are not resolved they will be addressed and processed through the stages of Right Choice Services management structure.

On-Call / Out Of Hours

Right Choice Services ensures that there is a Senior Manager on-call 24 hours a day to offer staff support and guidance.

Right Choice Services endeavour not to use agency staff wherever possible. We have access to a number of ‘bank staff’ who are available as and when needed. ‘Bank staff’ are recruited using our safe recruitment practices and receive the same level of induction and training as regular staff members.

Our Package Of Support

Low support; Medium Support; High Support.

Low support – 5 hours per week, with clear timescales and planning around readiness for independence.
Medium support – 6 - 10 hours per week; a more comprehensive support plan highlighting areas and outcomes to be achieved over a period of time.
High support - starting from 11 hours per week with a clear independence plan in place to reduce support hours over time.
Lone/Solo Placement – 1:1 solo support when a young person is not yet ready to live in a group setting or may be at risk to themselves or others. The young person may require some therapeutic intervention alongside preparation for adulthood.

We have a flexible and innovative approach to support provision and understand that young people’s needs can and will change over time. We are able to step up/down support plans as required.

Life Skills Assessments / Support Plans

Our assessments focus on clarifying the emotional, practical, social and independence skills of each young person. We utilise information gathered from the pathway plan and the placement planning meeting to inform our assessments as well as our own knowledge of the young person and the young person’s views. Assessments feed into the young person’s support plan and may include life skills, emotional and physical health, education, and safety planning.

Young people’s development and progress: We monitor, record, and measure our people’s progress through regular:

Weekly key working sessions.
Support plan reviews.
Feedback from the young person and other agencies.
Monthly house meetings.
Monthly programme of social events.
Young people’s’ involvement and participation.
Young people’s suggestion box.

Feedback

We are dedicated to continually improving our services and to this end welcome feedback from our young people and other agencies. All feedback is recorded, evaluated, and actioned if necessary. We have a compliments and complaints system which is monitored by the service manager; any complaint is taken seriously and will be actioned as necessary. We will ensure that no young person is disadvantaged or discriminated against if they make a complaint.

House Meetings

We hold house meetings on the last Sunday of every month. The purpose of these meetings is to bring young people together and explore any issues that may be developing within the group and for the residents to develop their own ideas and solutions to resolve any issues. Minutes are taken at every meeting and shared with the staff to ensure all are aware of any issues arising.

Education

Right Choice Services assists and encourages young people to access and engage with colleges, universities, apprenticeships, and other educational programmes. This is achieved by:

Supporting the young person to source appropriate education/training opportunities.
Completing application forms.
Preparing for education/college/training/job/ interviews.
Escorting to interviews.
Attending parents evenings.
Monitoring progress and offering on-going support.
Supporting young people with additional needs.
Working in partnership with our educational partners.

Health

Each young person has a health plan as part of their support plan. We aim to register our young people with local health providers with 14 days of move in. Each resident is encouraged to engage with health providers, and we are able to support young people to attend health appointments as required. Understanding healthy eating and lifestyle choices is covered during key work sessions alongside the following:

Social

In order to broaden young people’s educational options and social awareness, we promote numerous activities such as film nights, BBQ’s, visits to local areas etc. We encourage our young people to put forward their own ideas for activities according to their own aspirations and interests. We also encourage our residents to join local clubs, such as sporting clubs, gym, etc. to encourage inclusion within their local community. We have weekly planned activities in the houses that focus on building and promoting the independence skills such as social interaction, forming positive relationships and building confidence and resilience.

The Accommodation

Right Choice Services has several houses that are designed to replicate a family home. Our motto is very simple: “If it is good enough for us to live in, then it is good enough for our young people. All units are well decorated and maintained to a high standard. Each young person has their own bedroom and is provided with bedding, kitchen goods and towels which are theirs to keep. Our units are all centrally located; approximately ten minutes’ walk from the nearest train station and five minutes from the nearest bus route. Our homes are also situated near to local facilities such as libraries, parks, shops, and colleges etc. All units have access to a choice of internet providers and good telephone reception.

All units have secured entry with spacious and comfortable living areas and rooms that provide comfort, as well as privacy. Each bedroom has a bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe, desk, chair, bedding, and lamp. All the young people are encouraged to personalise their private space, by using posters and photographs of their choice and are encouraged to do so by support staff. All homes are centrally heated and have a garden area for the young people’s use.

The communal areas, such as the kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms and gardens support the residents to build relationships with their peers. The communal rooms are furnished to promote good use of a shared space with a TV in the living room and a dining table to encourage shared mealtimes. We encourage the use of the garden, which has seating areas to allow the young people to entertain visitors during warmer weather. We utilise CCTV in all communal areas to ensure the safety of residents and staff. Our young people are made aware of this when they move in.

We provide 16+ placements at the following addresses:

18 Turpins, Basildon, Essex SS14 2HX
134 Gordon Road, Basildon, Essex SS14 1PR
22 Havengore, Pitsea, Essex SS13 1JT
101 Forest Road, Colchester, CO4 3XH
1 Chester Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4AF
145 Latymer Road, Edmonton M9 9PN
959 Great Cambridge Road, Enfield EN1 4BZ.
91 Lincoln Crescent, Enfield EN1 1JZ
38 Southbury Road, Enfield EN1 1YB
23 Punchard Crescent, Enfield EN3 6FZ

Summary of facilities

Occupancy 4-6 bedrooms
Office (for staff)
Living & Dining area (seats up to 6)
Kitchen will appliances
Large garden area
TV Point
Double electrical sockets
Overhead lighting
Flooring
Wardrobe
Desk & chair
Key to each bedroom
Chest of Drawers
Soft chair (If required)
Additional Lighting (If required)
Washing machine
Fridge/freezer for each bedroom

Our premises are well designed and maintained. Property audit’s take place monthly and any damages are repaired swiftly by our own maintenance team and home development plan. We provide accommodation and facilities which enable the delivery of quality support in an environment that is safe for both staff and young people. We also work to enforce the importance of respecting our neighbour’s and the wider community. Right Choice Services ensures it has appropriate buildings and liability insurance in place to cover adverse events to the premises, staff, visitors, and residents.

Referrals, Application & Admissions

Criteria for referral

The referrals process

All referrals should be submitted to Right Choice Services via email to: info@rightchoiceservices.org and be password protected; the referral must be fully completed and anonymised. If we require further information or clarification we will contact the referring social worker and team manager via email.
The initial referral should outline:
The young person’s basic details
The young person’s background
Any emotional, behavioural, or developmental issues
Any religious or cultural needs
Any specific medical requirements including dietary requirements
A risk assessment outlining any risk posed by the young person or any risk from others
Details of any additional vulnerabilities, i.e., missing episodes, self-harming, mental health difficulties
Suggested level of support required
Each referral is assessed giving weight to the needs of the referred young person and matching with our current residents. If we are able to offer accommodation an initial quotation based on the level of support package required would be submitted to the Local Authority.

If the Local Authority agrees the quotation:

An initial unit visit, and interview is arranged. This provides the young person with the opportunity to discuss our services; view the unit and facilities, meet the other residents, and support staff and ask any questions that they may have.
The young person is expected to attend the unit visit alongside their allocated social worker and their risk assessment/support plan is discussed at this initial visit.

Arrival & Moving In

On arrival all young people are given their welcome pack and key to their room. The key is signed for with the understanding that if it is lost the young person is responsible for paying for its replacement. We do hold universal keys and are able to access all rooms but will only do so in an emergency, for safeguarding purposes or when undertaking room checks with the young person’s permission. The welcome pack comprises:

Bedding items
Bath towel set and toiletries
The young person’s handbook, which includes all the information the young person needs to know about the placement, the complaints procedure, code of conduct and policies such as the anti-bullying policy & safeguarding
A comprehensive guide to Local Services

All items are the property of the young person and can be taken when they move on to their own accommodation.

A placement planning meeting should be held within five days, and we do expect the young person to attend, along with their key worker and allocated social worker. This meeting is to clarify the support package and gives the young person an opportunity to have their say about what support they feel is needed. We also clarify arrangements for curfew times, missing reporting, and safeguarding issues during this meeting.

A placement contract is signed by the young person outlining what is expected of them while they remain with us.

Information For Resident Young People

Right Choice Services operates on the ethos that a placement needs to have clear rules and boundaries to benefit the young people placed there and to keep them safe. Young people are warned that criminal damage may result in them being charged the cost of repairs or replacement and could result in police involvement.

There is zero tolerance to:

The use of illicit drugs and substances at the unit
Alcohol use at the unit
Verbal and/or physical aggression at the unit or within the vicinity of the unit
Smoking within the unit
Causing nuisance to our neighbours
Criminal damage and vandalism of the unit

Fire & Emergency Procedures

Fire Procedure

All precautions are taken to ensure young people placed with us are aware of the dangers of fire. Smoke detectors are fitted throughout the units and there are fire extinguishers available. All fire safety equipment is maintained as per our fire safety policy; any faults discovered are dealt with immediately.

Right Choice Services operates a no smoking policy; it is not acceptable for the young people to smoke within their own rooms or in the communal areas such as the living room or kitchen. We ask all Visitors to sign in when they enter the unit and sign out upon leaving; this enables us to establish a register of people in the event of a fire. All visitors are made aware of fire procedures.

All our staff and young people are fully trained in fire awareness and fire evacuation procedures are carried out weekly. All electrical and fire appliances in the unit are checked and serviced to meet the National Minimum Standards. As part of Health and Safety inspection a building audit is undertaken every week by the team leader as well as fire checks etc. Any related problems or issues that are discovered are documented and acted upon to prevent any accidents or injuries. There are fire signs around the unit clearly giving fire evacuation procedures and indicating the fire exits.

Emergency Procedures

If the building became unusable by the young people and staff due to physical damage:

An alternative place of safety would be made available to the residents with the agreement and support of their social worker.
The manager-on call would be notified immediately.
An assessment of the damage will be undertaken.
If there is no possibility of returning to the building, Right Choice Services would make arrangements for the young people and support staff to stay in a hotel from our list of emergency planning hotels.
We would inform all agencies of the young people’s whereabouts and the actions taken to prevent/minimise any disruption to the young people’s lives and routines.
Once the building has been made safe and the necessary checks have been completed an assessment would be undertaken before staff and young people return to the unit.

Visitors

All visitors to the unit are asked to identify themselves to staff before entering and staff would always take steps to verify visitors identity if in doubt. All visitors are required to sign the visitors’ book on arrival and departure. No child under the age of 16 is permitted to enter the premises without parental permission and at the discretion of the team leader.

No overnight guests are allowed at Right Choice Services and every guest is expected to leave by 9.00pm.

Right Choice Services reserves the right to ban people from the unit if this is deemed to be in the best interests of the resident young people.

Safeguarding

Right Choice Services has a robust safeguarding policy which is available to all staff and residents in every unit. We take safer recruitment seriously and always take up references and DBS checks. Our Safeguarding Lead oversees all safeguarding matters; there is mandatory safeguarding training for staff who are supported by the team leaders and service manager.

Right Choice Services homes adheres to the relevant Local Safeguarding Children’s Board policies and procedures. We have processes in place for ensuring young people are safeguarded during their residence, these include, but are not limited to, a whistleblowing policy, lone working procedure, complaints procedure and a safeguarding policy.

Right Choice also has a duty of care to other children and young people in the immediate community and will prioritise safeguarding of these children and young people by risk assessing the young people who have been referred to us for a placement. We expect our resident young people to be respectful of our neighbours and not to cause distress or nuisance to the wider community.

Representation & Complaints

Right Choice Services has a Complaints Policy which is accessible to all staff, young people, and their families. All complaints are dealt with in confidence, and we are committed to dealing with any issues swiftly and fairly.

Multi Agency Working

At Right Choice Services we value the importance of multi-agency working with our partner agencies to ensure that we continue to provide a consistent service to meet our young people’s needs and keep them safe. Our staff are experienced in attending LAC reviews, CP conferences, PEP and Strategy meetings and are able to contribute both verbally and in writing.

We are experienced in working with Social Care, Youth Offending, Police, Education and Health to ensure the needs of our young people remain met. We value the importance of building trustful and respectful relationships with other agencies and encourage our young people to do likewise.

We have experience of working with young people being released from custody and our staff are able to mentor and support our residents to build interpersonal skills and encourage social integration. Staff are also able to act as ‘appropriate adult’ if required.

Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC)

Our service has developed expertise in providing support for UASC young people. We have supported young people from different countries and various ethnic and religious backgrounds, including young people from Albania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Syria, Somalia, and Sudan. We understand that this group of young people have specific needs in terms of exploitation, trauma, loss and separation from their birth families and have been able to support with referrals to The Refuge Council and local mental health services. We have also built strong links with local colleges and are able to support young people to enrol onto ESOL courses. As mentioned a number of our staff members speak a second language which helps our UASC young people to settle and build relationships with staff; we always attempt to match young people with a staff member who can converse in their own language.

We encourage integration between our units and have supported our residents to arrange inter-house football matches and shared meals. We are dedicated to celebrating all festivals across all units and encourage our residents to be involved in learning about different cultures and faiths. Our staff have supported young people through the asylum process, taking them for Home Office and solicitors appointments.

Data Protection

Right Choice Services policies comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. We have a dedicated Data Protection Officer All information pertaining to staff or young people held on site at Right Choice Services is locked and stored in a safe place within an office which is locked at all times. All information regarding staff or young people at our head office is either in a lockable cabinet or held within a password protected and encrypted computer.

Equal Opportunities

Equality and Diversity is a core value and key policy within Right Choice Services. Young people who reside with us come from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds and we have a broad mix of staff employed to reflect this diversity. Young people’s identity and culture is valued and respected. Every effort is made to promote their cultural and identity needs and reach their full potential.

We recognise and believe that prejudice, discrimination, and harassment are unacceptable, and we actively contribute to eliminating discrimination through robust complaint and reporting procedures and through anti-discriminatory practice. All staff and young people at Right Choice Services are entitled to live and work in an environment that is free from discrimination, victimisation, harassment, and bullying.

Cultural Awareness

Right Choice Services acknowledges and supports the celebration of all cultures and religions. All young people are encouraged to celebrate cultural events both at the unit and within the wider community. We post events on our noticeboards and encourage our young people to discuss their ideas during monthly house meetings. We celebrate all religious festivals and encourage learning about other faiths for staff and young people alike.

Updated: 09/08/2023

Annual Update:08/08/2024