Case Studies
Child A – an In Depth Case Study
Child A placement began in 2015, on arrival to one of our therapeutic specialist provisions the child was in dysregulated state throughout a period of time, reluctant to engage within any aspects of the placement outcomes. Through using the therapeutic model and working alongside GMAP therapists and the good lives plan the specialist staff team worked with the child who eventually began to show more regulated behaviours and displayed signs of feeling safe and becoming more engaged within the staff team and therefore enabling a positive education placement.
At commencement of placement the child spent the majority of their time in the safe place established with the child which was in a tree at the bottom of the garden. Through using the specialist therapeutic model the staff team were able to engage with the child using their safe place as a tool to engage positively with the staff. After time the YP became comfortable with staff and began to use a safe place within their bedroom, although the Child was still engaging in chaotic behaviour around the home and showed negativity towards a structured routine. A consistent approach from all staff and rigid boundaries and consequences enabled the child to understand negative behaviours and in time the child responded positively to behaviour rewards in place within the home.
A period of the child feeling safe and a consistent therapeutic staff approach enabled the staff team to work alongside the family and the specialist GMAP team to promote positive family contact liaising with child’s siblings, promoting the approach used within the home ensuring negative behaviours are managed consistently throughout. Consequently this has ensured that the Child feels safe whilst at home as well as within the home, this has resulted in the child been able to complete overnight visits within the family home which previous risks would of prevented. Due to successful contact visits, the staff team at the home have been able to develop contact and independency skills by completing a robust contact plan which involved flying to their home with staff supporting them with a long term goal of the child flying independently and visiting family alone without staff support. Throughout this plan this has further developed confidence and self esteem whilst also maintain the trust with the staff team and placement. This has had a positive impact on the behaviour of the child and has enabled the child to focus on their own long term aspirations and life goals. Subsequently the child has made the decision that they would like to become a farmer and have successful applied for a further education qualification at a local college and engaged within a volunteering placement within the agriculture setting.
The child has shown huge improvement in all aspect since commencing placement. This has been achieved by a consistent staff team following a therapeutic approach towards the care given to the child. The child has responded to this approach and is successfully meeting their outcomes in all areas of the child’s development and continues to work alongside staff and GMAP to develop social skills further adding to their confidence and fulfilment.
Child A – Personal account on their placement
“When I moved to (house name) I came from a care home far away from my family and I did not get to see them. I did not want to move to (house name) at was still far from my family and I wanted to see them more and go back to live with them. The reason I moved to (house name) was due to my sexualised behaviours at a previous placement, since living here I have worked with G-map and I enjoy talking to them as I have learned how to manage my emotions and feelings helping to cope with stressful situations. I previously would make sexualised comments and intimidate staff by threatening behaviour as I wanted to feel powerful and show them I was not scared. I talked to G-map about the purpose of these behaviours and worked out that this is because of my early childhood. I now understand that I was abused by my step dad and this is the only way I could survive at home. The staff at (house name) have helped me see my family more and I really look forward to spending time with them, also my brothers speak to my carers and tell them when I do good things and also let them know when I have done something silly. I really enjoy going to school now and look forward to starting college and a farming placement in September, because I have done better at school and brought my attendance up I now get to go to a farm every week as part of my school day and get to learn new skills and now can’t wait to do this full time. I have also worked hard so as I can earn free time in the community, G-map also work with me to develop my ICOPE’s, they let me have free time in the community and this helps me meet new people and socialise. I really enjoy being able to fly home now as it is really fun, I have been told by the staff and G-map that I can now stay overnight with my family which I also enjoy.
Case Study 1
A young person aged 14 arrived at the home and it was their first time in care. The young person had previously not attended any education provision for two years and was supported within the home to attend a specialist education provision in which she achieved 100% attendance throughout her time at the home. The young person presented with extreme isolation and had severe difficulties in social settings and meeting new people, particularly professionals. Over the course of two years the young person blossomed within placement and regularly volunteered at a local farm where her horse was stabled. This young person was positively integrated within the community and with the support from the staff at the home began to enjoy more positive family interaction which eventually resulted in her return to paternal grandparents where she continues to reside.
Care Leaving Service – Success Story
T came to us with a substantial background of trauma and had a history of severe self-harm, child sexual exploitation, aggressive behaviour and substance misuse. Further to this he has a diagnosis of Asperger’s, has spent time is a psychiatric hospital and believed to have an emerging personality disorder.
T came to Crystal Care Solutions after a placement breakdown due to aggressive behaviours and physical altercations with staff. Due to T’s complex needs a planned transition took place where we visited T and he visited the provision in which he was moving.
T is a female who identifies as a male and found it really difficult to communicate his feelings and trust different adults that are involved in his support. T was extremely volatile and his behaviours would change on a daily basis. We supported T with two members of staff during the first six months of his stay with us and a waking night. We were able to firstly remove the waking nights for T because his behaviours stabilised and he built up an excellent rapport with his staff.
Due to the complexities of T, it was important that we had a constant flow of communication between all of the professionals. We worked with the local policing team, CSE panel, social work team and CAMHS. During this time, we were able to adopt a consistent approach and support T with his Asperger’s and managing his own feelings.
We slowly reduced the support that T was getting to one member of staff and worked hard to increase his independence at the same time. T developed an excellent relationship with the support staff and was able to open up and complete key working sessions around his identity and self-harm so the staff were able to work in conjunction with the local CAMHS team and supported T to transgender clinics.
T runs the house meetings, taken part in managers meetings and has been involved with recruiting staff. T is now planning to move back home with the support of staff and now has a limited amount of support from the staff at the provision.
Case Study 3
K came to Crystal Care Solutions in January and was a short term placement until he was 18 years old. K had a history of substance misuse, anti-social behaviour, aggression towards others, and Harmful Sexual Behaviour.
K came to us from a young offender’s provision and moved to one of our semi-independence Supported Living Provisions. K was placed with us so that we could work with his youth offending team and personal advisor to reduce the risk of reoffending.
K had a very traumatic and complex background and needed therapeutic input to not help him understand his own family dynamics but to deal with his own emotions.
K moved to the provision not knowing anybody in the area with a staffing ratio of 2:1 to support his behaviours. He could not work with any females alone and it was quickly realised that a multi-disciplinary working approach was needed so that we adopted a consistent approach to support.
In order to have clear targets, K worked with the staff to create his own support plan and risk management plans and four-weekly meetings were put in place with all professionals to make sure we were all on track.
During the first three months of being in our accommodation, K made significant progress. We slowly introduced duel female working and giving him time with one member of staff when we felt safe to do so. It was a structured plan agreed by the network to support K into independent living.
After six months, K has his support reduced to one member of staff that also included a female. His relationships with staff developed to such a place where he could openly discuss his thoughts and feelings and staff worked with the therapeutic providers to merge the work in session with his work in the provision.
Eight months into the package of support, K was able to use the train independently and visit his family in his home down in the South of the Country. He was supported for the first few times but was able to develop his skills and manage his behaviours quickly enough to then make the journey on his own.
The package ended shortly after K turned eighteen. One month before the semi-independent support ceased the staff supported K to obtain his own flat, prepare for his independence and obtain his own income. Staff helped K to get a job and he sustained this when we moved to providing floating support three times a week. Our staff stayed involved for a further month to support K further into his transition into adulthood.
services, of which combine to meet children and young people’s needs and support their families and carers
Case Study 4
The young person was admitted to the home due to the family having difficulties with their behaviour having subsequently presented with challenging and volatile behaviour both towards their surroundings and also the family whom they were living with The young person had in the past been diagnosed with Autism and Learning Difficulties which at times caused them to be dis-regulated.
Following their admission to the home staff implemented a very structured approach to their behaviour which manifested itself in all aspects of their care including visual supports being created, laminated and hung in the bathroom to support their personal hygiene, behaviour reward charts created to reflect the issues that were causing problems within the home and immediate local area. Using consistent staff supported the young person to feel safe and secure and caused less stress for them emotionally also helping to build strong relationships with key people in their life. Structured behaviour support plans were implemented and behaviour reward charts utilised to help with their behaviour. Due to the structure and support within placement this young person volunteered on a weekly basis at a local urban farm which was unsupervised and also contact with family members whom young person had not had contact several years progressed enough that they are now having unsupervised contact on a weekly basis. This young person has now reached the stage where we are supporting a smooth transition to adulthood, and supported accommodation.
Case Study 5
Child A arrived at Crystal Care Solutions in December 2016 after his Local Authority were unable to find placement due to his extremely complex, and high risks. He displayed Sexually Harmful Behaviours alongside Aggression, Criminal Damage and diagnoses of ADHD, ASD, ODD and Hyperkinetic Conduct Disorder with Callous and Malicious Traits. Child A had been out of education for an extensive period, had no social experiences and had few positive interests or hobbies.
After 12 months child A had developed strong relationships with staff and was engaging in full time education where he regularly received Pupil of the Week and was also commended by his local authority with an Educational Excellence Award.
Child A was encouraged and supported to experience a number of hobbies and developed a keen interest in fishing and go-karting. Child A went on the represent Staffordshire Police in monthly fishing competitions and also secured a volunteering placement at a local fishing pool. Child A also reached the podium positions in the Go-Karting League and attends Car Clubs at weekends.
Child A continued to display high risk behaviours and continued to have complex needs, however the home worked closely with the professional network to create and implement effective management strategies.
Child A has now moved back to their home county and has reduced all high risk behaviours.
Quotes from Inspection Reports
‘Managers and staff demonstrate a positive attitude to supporting and maintaining young people‟s placements.’
Moorcroft
