As part of its Take a Breath model, Manchester City Council has created two specialist children’s homes, focusing on supporting children with complex needs locally. The homes were developed in view of the lack of suitable residential provision for children with complex needs coming out of hospital, meaning children were spending weeks in hospital as their needs could not be met in the community, even though they did not require clinical care. It followed lengthy inpatient stays of five children in Manchester, some of which led to court intervention, as residential providers refused placements.
The first home opened in March 2023 and is able to care for up to four children. The homes will allow children who have been hospitalised in a mental health emergency to be discharged from hospital quickly into these homes following treatment for their injuries. They will also have a hospitalisation prevention aim, as well as addressing issues of multiple placement breakdowns.
Taking a person-centred, strengths based, trauma informed approach, they will be staffed by two full time workers, who will work with children to settle them through a period of stress. The service seeks to provide short to medium term provision to ease children into the next stage of their care pathway.
There was also a financial imperative for the council to create this provision, with private providers charging tens of thousands of pounds every week to look after these children in some cases. These homes, commissioned by the council in collaboration with the NHS, will cost £5,500 per child per week.