Ridgway Children's Services operate a very flexible approach in terms of agreeing a referral process and admission procedure for each young person. The process will be agreed to meet individual requirements.
We are pleased to be guided by professionals who understand the specific needs of their young people, and can guide us with regard to the most appropriate response.
Our aim is to manage the referral and admission as smoothly as possible with the young person's best interests as the main priority.
An important objective is to form a positive relationship with all referrers to enable us to respond effectively. Before any visit, we would require all relevant documentation so that we can make our own assessment of the service we need to provide. We need to be confident we can meet the identified needs of all young people referred to us. Once we have received all paperwork a pre-interview home visit will be arranged, this forms part of the referral process identifying that we can fully meet the needs of the child, parents and authority.
If the initial assessment of the documentation and home visit suggests that the child's identified needs can be met, then a formal interview will be offered. This allows the children's parents, carers and local authority representatives the opportunity to visit the proposed school or children's home. It also offers the opportunity for all relevant parties to contribute towards the individual care/education plan which will include the aims/objectives and indeed agreed targets that will define the placement. |