PLEASE NOTE: New Standards Published
April 2011: The Standards no longer apply, Tri.x have published a web enabled version of the new Children’s Homes and Fostering Standards, please follow this link:
www.minimumstandards.org
5. Environment |
Size: |
Accommodation |
OUTCOME Children enjoy homely accommodation, decorated, furnished and maintained to a high standard, providing adequate facilities for their use. |
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| 24.1 | The home provides adequate good quality domestic style facilities for those living on the premises consistent with the purpose and function of the home, and is maintained in good order throughout. |
| 24.2 | The home is decorated and furnished to a standard which creates a pleasant domestic environment, appropriate to the number, gender mix, disability, age, culture and ethnic background of the children being accommodated. |
| 24.3 | The interior and exterior of the home are maintained in a good state of structural and decorative repair. There is a satisfactory maintenance and repair programme for the building, furniture and equipment, and any damage is repaired promptly. Gardens and/or hard play areas are well maintained and safe. The home is kept clean. |
| 24.4 | There is a distinction between private and community shared space in the home. Where a school is a children’s home, there is a clear separation between residential units and non-residential school buildings. |
| 24.5 | Each child has a single bedroom or their own area in a double bedroom, of a suitable size, with a suitable bed and bedding, seating, storage for clothes, lockable or otherwise safe storage for personal possessions, a window with curtains (or other window covering), lighting sufficient to read by, carpet or other appropriate floor covering, and heating. |
| 24.6 | In a school which is a home, as far as possible children are given the option of a single room. From April 2003, there are no more than four children in a bedroom and at no time are there odd numbers of children sharing a bedroom. Children have a suitable bed and bedding, seating, storage for clothes, lockable or otherwise safe storage for personal possessions, curtains or other window coverings, lighting sufficient to read by, carpet or other appropriate floor covering, and heating. Bunk beds are not used for children aged 13 or over unless they request it, and are not used for children for whom there would be safety risk. Where bunk beds are used, there has to be the floor space comparable to there being two separate beds in the room. Any request by a child to change bedrooms is given urgent consideration and agreed if feasible. |
| 24.7 | The registered person takes into account the potential for abusive behaviour before agreeing to the sharing of bedrooms. |
| 24.8 | Where necessary because of children’s disabilities or other needs, an effective emergency call system is provided with sufficient and appropriately located call points readily accessible to children in emergency (e.g. pull cords that can be reached after falling). The system is operational and effective in summoning prompt staff assistance. |
| 24.9 | Where needed by children, the home provides sufficient and appropriate equipment such as lifts, hoists and wheelchairs, and such equipment is regularly serviced. Rooms used to accommodate disabled children must, if relevant, have sufficient space for the easy manoevrability of wheelchairs and specialised equipment such as hoists. |
| 24.10 | Children are able and encouraged to personalise their bedrooms. |
| 24.11 | One or more telephones are provided for the exclusive use of children in the home in private. These offer acceptable levels of privacy for personal calls, and are maintained in working order, any damage or breakdown being promptly repaired. Disabled children are enabled to use the telephone in private as far as is possible. |
| 24.12 | Facilities for children to study at the home are quiet, have sufficient seating and desk/table space, are adequately lit, have adequate storage for books and study materials, and are available when needed for study purposes. |
| 24.13 | There are facilities for children to pursue personal hobbies at the home, with sufficient and secure storage for safekeeping of materials. |
| 24.14 | Children are given opportunities to have a say in the general décor, furnishings and upkeep of the home if they wish. |
| 24.15 | There are rooms in which children can meet privately with visitors and space for private activities, play and recreation which do not affect other children’s routine activities. |
| 24.16 | Staff sleep in rooms are not part of the communal living area, and are located close to children’s bedrooms to respond to children’s night time needs. Where more than one staff member sleeps in on the same night, there are separate sleeping in rooms. |
| 24.17 | A home that provides temporary accommodation as detailed in its Statement of Purpose may, under certain circumstances, be exempted from the requirement to provide each child with a single bedroom or their own area in a double bedroom, provided that a risk assessment has been undertaken, and that the welfare needs of children are not compromised by the arrangements. |
| 24.18 | In any home that is not also a school, children share bedrooms only where the children have agreed to the arrangement to share. Children accommodated in emergency provision (subject to a home’s Statement of Purpose allowing such a placement) are not placed in a shared bedroom (other than with siblings) until an assessment has been carried out to ascertain their views and the views of those who already sleep in the bedroom. |
| 24.19 | Where they are relevant, schools which are children’s homes meet the requirements of the School Premises Regulations 1999. [Regulations 15, 31] |