Care Afloat is based within the North West of England and was established back in 1991 by its owner Danny Curran who launched us by providing just a single residential placement. Nearly 30 years later, Care Afloat has evolved to now offer solo and small multi-bedded Residential Homes, Education, Therapy and its unique Mobile services. We do not seek rapid expansion but prefer to concentrate our efforts on providing the highest quality care and best possible outcomes for the young people that we work with.
We are specialists in medium-long term intervention for Young People displaying complex and challenging behaviour and we aim to identify, understand and meet the needs of every individual young person in our care.
All of our services are registered and inspected by Ofsted who have consistently rated them Good or Outstanding.
Despite our name, we don’t just offer services on the water but our unique activity-based services do enable us to provide placements which offer countless opportunities for young people. We believe that “Our strengths are our differences and our differences are our strengths” therefore we use these opportunities to promote self-esteem, build confidence and encourage meaningful relationships
Our Homes
Our Residential Children’s Homes are deliberately designed as small homely environments, which appear no different to other houses within the local area. All our Homes provide high staffing ratios to ensure that young people in our care feel safe and secure, whilst enabling them to develop their own individuality and independence.
We offer a holistic approach, which means; each young person’s care plan is tailored to their individual needs and is worked through at a pace that suits them. We create an atmosphere where it is ok to laugh, cry and make learning mistakes, somewhere that is non-judgemental, where each young person is given freedom of healthy expression.
We actively encourage young people to become involved decision making by enabling them to take as much responsibility as they can over their own lives thus empowering them to develop social, communication and life skills in the right surroundings.
We offer a space that is both safe and homely, with experienced staff teams, that are consistent, supportive and understanding. Staff are fully trained in working with young people who display challenging, complex and often risky behaviours. Our staff teams are trained in understanding the therapeutic needs of traumatised young people, so that they can work in partnership with our therapeutic provider to ensure that input and support is appropriate, consistent and effective. This process is overseen by a highly respected Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
Our Mission & Values
Since the very beginning, underpinning our work has always been a set of shared core values. Core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of our actions; they serve as our cultural cornerstone.
Commitment
We develop relationships that make a positive difference in our young people’s lives. We are committed to ensuring young people feel safe and secure and are supported to live the lives they deserve.
Diligence
We appreciate where we are today whilst striving to be better tomorrow. We allow ourselves to enjoy the small victories while knowing we are far from the finish line. We encourage the choice to control what we can control: our effort and perseverance.
Integrity
We uphold the highest standards of integrity in all of our actions. We are honest, even if it is difficult and will strive to do the right thing for the right reasons.
Resilient
We work hard to continuously improve and learn from our colleagues and from what we do. We embrace change and we develop to ensure our services are consistently the best they can be. We never give up trying and adapt our approaches as necessary.
Adventurous
We are Creative and Open-Minded – While we never want to be reckless, it’s important to take risks and embrace our creativity.
Our Philosophy
We believe that the young people in our care respond better and are able to reach their full potential when they are cared for in an environment in which, people are genuinely interested in their well-being, people who take time to get to know them, their needs and ensure that those needs are met.
We believe that all young people should be free from harm, fear or threat and actively pursue safeguarding measures in achieving this. We understand that young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties respond better to calm and consistent boundaries, which are established and maintained throughout the project.
We believe that all looked after children have the same rights, privileges and opportunities, with the same high standards, high expectations, common goals and respect as any other young person in society.
Our care is based on and around each individual’s needs, taking into account their history, their value system, their family/community relationships, as well as their origins, cultures and religious beliefs.
How we achieve this
We understand the experiences that cared for children have had. Such as multiple rejections, placement breakdowns, exclusion or significant abuse. We never give up on these children. Our staff know how to gain their trust and build the attachment and relationships required to help them to move forward positively with their lives.
We are ambitious for the children in our care and are committed to supporting them through the tough times, whilst also recognising and celebrating their achievements. We are also realistic about the progress our children make and plan their care to make incremental steps toward better days and better lives. Partnership is key to achieve these goals and we liaise with a wide range of agencies and organisations.
We take a holistic approach in the care of our young people involving them in the making, implementation and review of placement plans to ensure personalised care, aimed at achieving the best possible outcome.
It is not our job to control our young people. It is our mission to walk them through a crisis period in their lives, to teach them that their behaviour has consequences, good and bad, and show them the benefits of choosing behaviour that affects themselves and others in a positive way.
Many young people come through our doors with a limited tool kit for life. We want them to leave us (however long they stay, months or years), with the ability to look after themselves, make informed decisions and function within society with a full tool kit which they can pick up and use throughout their lives.