Children’s Services
Our Approach
IDEM LIVING was established to provide caring, nurturing and safe environments, where young people can live and grow, enabling them to achieve their full potential. This is facilitated through careful, individually planned journeys during a young person’s time with IDEM LIVING that meets their needs and promotes their welfare at every stage of their experience. All of our Children’s Homes follow IDEM LIVING’s person-centred approach where the wishes, feelings and the voice of each individual, young person is paramount. IDEM LIVING believe that every young person has the ability, and will be encouraged, to contribute to the care and education they receive and the running of ‘their’ home. Our goals are to promote self-esteem, resilience and positive self-identity through participation, recognition, achievement and praise. We believe we have the right structure that will enable young people to flourish in our care.
All young people in our care have a right to be shown respect, to be treated with dignity and kindness and be provided with the same opportunities and potential which we would want for our own children, including:
- access to a good education to prepare them for the future
- a positive sense of self worth and confidence
- to be morally responsible
- to be able to integrate socially within the community
- to be in good physical and mental health
- to have the opportunity to play, learn and have fun
- to feel valued and loved
- to develop self-discipline, and discover the ability to visualise a new, positive, personal goal
Our dedicated teams support all our young people to develop the coping strategies and the skills required to manage difficulties as they arise. This takes place in an environment that offers the correct balance between care, protection and risk. Our teams have all received a high level of training, including safeguarding training, and are aware of the issues in relation to looking after young people who display challenging and risky behaviour, both at home and in the community. All adults within the teams are clear about the lines of responsibility and accountability, are vigilant in relation to the young person’s ongoing safety and protection and are aware of the Local Children’s Safeguarding Partnership procedures for managing suspected safeguarding concerns. Our teams are specifically recruited from diverse backgrounds to bring a richness of life experience to their work with the young people and to the essential task of building positive and meaningful relationships that can change lives.
Our Homes
Cedars
Cedars is a spacious, detached, four bedroom home situated in an elevated position on the fringe of Taunton. The home is set in a beautiful, expansive garden and well placed to access local town amenities and the natural resources of the Somerset countryside. The home and the Cedars team provide a caring, nurturing environment for up to two young people who are likely to have experienced attachment and trauma issues and disrupted care patterns. Living at cedars offers young people the sense of safety, a sense of belonging and the opportunity to work collaboratively to change negative narratives and achieve positive outcomes.
Statement of PurposeHighview
Highview is a detached four-bedroom bungalow situated close to the market town of Axminster. The town, rural surroundings and proximity to the coast offer the young people we support a diversity of wonderful experiences and opportunities. The home and the supporting adults provide a caring, nurturing environment and the opportunity for change for up to two young people who may have experienced adverse childhood experiences, trauma and attachment difficulties.
Logwood
At Logwood we offer young people, with autism and/or severe learning disabilities, accommodation on a planned basis. Logwood is a detached four-bedroom house situated in a the quiet area of Whiston. Three of the bedrooms will be for the young people and one bedroom for the Supporting Adults. The children will have access to a main lounge and conservatory to undertake activities and for somewhere to relax. There is a fully fitted kitchen and a fenced garden area which is ideal for children to play in.
Chapters
Chapters is a three bedded home situated on the outskirts of Exeter. It offers a bespoke package of care to just one young person. This enables the care to be centred around their individual needs that will enable them to thrive in the homely environment with a team of adults supporting them to reach their full potential.
Exeter is a city offering a wide variety of experiences to young people and the home is situated close to the motorway which enables access to the wider area including Dartmoor, Plymouth and Cornwall.
Melwood
Melwood Children’s Home is a residential care home which provides care for children and young people aged between 8 and 18 years of age.
We aim to provide specialised quality care for children and young people with the following needs: Learning Disabilities, Autistic Spectrum Disorder Conditions, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, Asperger’s Syndrome and Complex Specialist Needs.
Our services are also focused on planning for the future and much of the work we do is ensuring young people are ready for adulthood and given the skills and ability to self-manage their futures.
Roost
The Roost is a two bedded dual registered home set up to meet the needs of children and young people who have experienced trauma in their lives as well as having additional support needs.
All young people can receive a functional analysis which outlines the bespoke support they can expect to receive and will be supported by Supporting Adults who are PACE trained.
