Our Values

As an organisation, we hold the following values:

• For every individual to be treated with dignity and respect
• To provide child centred, high quality services to all families
• To work in partnership, to protect children from harm and prevent family breakdown
• To enable families to access support and opportunities to achieve their full potential
• To promote positive parenting and independent living skills through role modelling and guidance

Our Aim

Kaleidoscope exists to:

• Support parents/caregivers of any gender to develop their attachment with their children, and their parenting skills in a safe and supportive environment;
• Undertake comprehensive, needs-led assessments of parents, and their parenting capacity;
• Provide a tailored support package to guide parents and their children through to independent living within the community; and
• Enable parents and their children to access opportunities and achieve their full potential

The main purpose of our family assessment centres is to provide residential parenting assessments and support for families in a safe environment where children are safeguarded while parents’ abilities to meet their children’s needs are assessed and developed. Assessments are evidence-based and completed through direct observation, monitoring, and support work with families.

The centre offers 24/7 support to help parents improve their parenting skills and safely care for their children. Referral can be made by Local Authorities, CAFCASS, Legal Services, and the Courts where there are concerns about a child’s safety or uncertainty about a parent’s ability to provide appropriate care.

The aim of our assessments is to monitor and evaluate parenting capacity while protecting children and informing future care planning. Flexible assessment packages are available, including work with extended family members where appropriate. Residential assessments usually last 13 weeks but can be adapted depending on the family’s needs and professional recommendations.

Kaleidoscope uses the Department of Health’s Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families alongside the strength-based Parent Assess model, tailoring each assessment to the specific needs of the family.

Equality of Opportunity

We believe that every person has the right to be treated with respect and expect everyone at Kaleidoscope to behave in a way that does not discriminate against others. Kaleidoscope’s policy is that all families and staff are provided with equality of opportunity regardless of race, age, sex, sexuality, ethnicity, religious belief, disability, or health status.

We aim to meet the needs of parents of all races, cultures, disabilities, sexualities, and religious beliefs, and endeavour to employ a diverse staff team to reflect the needs and diverse backgrounds of the families we support. We celebrate all major religious festivals and help parents gain knowledge about their own and other’s cultures and religions. We request information about a family’s cultural and religious needs at the point of referral, and ensure that these are taken into account when planning their assessment.

Use of CCTV

Kaleidoscope uses CCTV and audio monitoring to support parenting assessments and safeguard children and families within the centre. Monitoring is tailored to each family’s Placement Plan and may also be used as a learning tool to help parents recognise strengths and areas for development.

The use of CCTV complies with the Data Protection Act and GDPR to protect the privacy of residents, staff, and visitors. CCTV in residents’ rooms operates continuously, including during visits from professionals or family members, although private meeting facilities are available and audio can be turned off on request for confidential meetings.

All residents are informed about the use of electronic monitoring before admission, and written consent must be provided by all relevant parties before placement begins.

Levels of Monitoring we offer:

• Full CCTV monitoring (this comes at an additional cost)
  • This occurs when CCTV footage within the family’s room is monitored 24 hours a day and can be offered for up to 7 days. This is to ensure that parents and their children can be fully supported by the staff team following their arrival. This can also be requested by the management team or Kaleidoscope’s social worker at any time during the assessment, if it is felt that a family may require immediate support / regular observation from the team.
• Intermittent CCTV monitoring of 30 minutes / 60-minute intervals.
  • This occurs when CCTV footage is observed intermittently throughout the day. Playback of cameras can be rewound to look back and review any time within a day.
• Random / Ad hoc CCTV monitoring.
• Physical welfare checks.
• Full childcare observations and random childcare observations.

Admission Criteria to the Residential Family Centre

• Preadmission risk assessment
• Referral information
• Care plans
• Local authority’s placement plan
• Letter of instruction
• Care plan for ICO
• Child protection plan for section 20 or other
• Any recent drug or alcohol testing results
• Essential medical information
• Kaleidoscope’s completed referral form - external agencies (all Core group members)
• Cognitive assessments (if completed)
• Psychological assessment (if completed)

Fees and Charges of the Residential Family Centre

Fees and charges can be requested from Kaleidoscope, and these will be provided on a case by case basis. Fees are calculated based on the requirements of the placement, risks posed, support required, and the needs of the family.

All placements will include a residential stay for a family, with onsite support, and will include:

• An individualised support package, tailored to the needs of residents, in line with support requested by the Local Authority in the letter of instruction, pre-admissions meeting, and placement agreement.
• Different levels of CCTV supervision / observation are offered, based on the needs of the family and / or risks.
• Robust, evidence based assessments completed by qualified Social Workers, using Parent Assess (see below)
• Daily Assessment Records, which provide detailed records of daily observations
• Individualised programmes of direct work provided by Support Workers, Social Workers and Key Workers to support parent(s) to: develop their parenting skills, raise their aspirations and expectations, and educate them in areas of personal safety / contraception / healthy lifestyle / child development / Webster Stratton Parenting / childhood illnesses / child protection & healthy and safe relationships, substance misuse, and so forth.
• Individual sessions with parent(s) and child to identify strengths and weaknesses, with plans formulated to increase strengths and develop / address areas of concern.
• Guidance and support utilising a key worker/mentor system throughout the residency provided by experienced and qualified staff.
• Support groups, facilitated by a psychotherapist
• Regular updates, assessments and reports provided to Local Authorities, outlining resident’s progress and / or any areas of concern.
• Activities (both one to one and group) designed to enhance resident’s social skills and self esteem, and provide opportunities for parents to bond and play with their child(ren).
• Off site activity and supervision for parent(s) and child, to encourage social skills, and build parent’s confidence whilst in the community.
• Waking night support.
• Facilitation of in house meetings with professionals.
• Residents are able to access their own personal records through a password protected records system on a computer (where appropriate).
• Individual flats, which can be personalised by the family for the duration of their stay
• Complete IT package (including access to the internet / phone, where usage is monitored and limited)
• Digital television package.

Specialist Services and Additional Fees

Any support or services which will incur an additional fee would be agreed in advance with the Local Authorities on an individual basis. This could include supporting a family to attend court (plus mileage), supervised contact, transportation arrangements. The transport of the family to the Centre and the family’s discharge home is to be arranged by the Local Authority, including transportation of family members and their personal belongings.

If 24/7 CCTV observation is required, this can be provided at an additional cost to the Local Authority, and would need to be discussed and agreed prior to securing the placement.

Direct Work

Direct work includes sessions around a number of topics, including: health and well-being, budgeting and finance, independence skills such as cooking, managing routines, washing and ironing, nutrition and diet, fire safety, hygiene and building positive relationships.

We have also developed direct work sessions on healthy relationships, safeguarding and child protection, which are targeted at parents who have experienced domestic violence. This also includes how to choose a safe childcare environment and internet safety, monitoring, childhood illnesses and tailored sessions that a family may require.

Assessment and Monitoring Models used by Kaleidoscope

Monitoring

When a parent’s placement commences,  all parenting tasks, such as the feeding and changing of their child, will be observed by staff being physically present in the room, and also via CCTV footage.  The purpose of this is to ensure the safety of the child, and that the tasks have been carried out safely and appropriately, and in a manner which meets the needs of the child, and enables staff intervention and support as and when needed. As staff observe parents completing tasks appropriately, the assessor will amend the assessment plan and staff will withdraw / reduce observations over time. The length of time for observations by staff will be dependent upon the task, the needs of the child and the parent’s ability. All observations will be discussed with the parent, so they are aware of the purpose of them.

Monitoring of families consists of direct observations, reviewing CCTV footage, and daily case recordings. Observations include body language and verbal language, including tone of voice to assess interaction between parent and child. The child’s appearance and manner are recorded, along with the parent’s ability to recognise and respond to the child’s needs.

All staff are provided with training and support to ensure the monitoring of residents is relevant, appropriate, in line with their placement plan, and to ensure they are aware of how to record an accurate account of their observations within the daily assessment recordings. This ensures that the  records which are completed based on their observations are accurate. Regular discussions and feedback is provided, to ensure that a good quality of observation and record keeping are maintained.

Daily handovers between staff take place at the end of each shift, both verbally, and written, to ensure consistency in care and support.

Parent Assess

Kaleidoscope’s Social Workers use Parent Assess to undertake the assessments of the families we are supporting. Parent Assess is a strengths-based framework, based on the well-established DoH’s Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (2000), and also uses a range of tools and tables to help parents with additional needs to engage in their assessment and understand the process. Recommendations from relevant case law and Good Practice Guidance are embedded in Parent Assess, including careful consideration of a family’s proposed support network.

​Our assessors are Social Workers who have been trained to use Parent Assess, and are able to carefully identify each parent's specific needs and understand and identify what support and / or input may be required to help the parent, and  potential risks, with a focus on each child's experience. Assessors are also trained to help parents to understand risks posed to themselves and their children, by using creative approaches. The observations and interactions with families are used as evidence within the assessment that is completed by the assessing social workers. A separate abridged Parent Report is provided at the conclusion of the assessment, which explains the outcome of the assessment in a way the a parent can understand. 

Assessments completed using Parent Assess explores 5 key areas:

• The child's experience of being parented (how the parent meets the physical and emotional needs of the child, and the parent’s ability to be attuned to their child)
• Parental functioning (the parent's history and the impact this has on their parenting; the parent's ability to change, decision making, multi-tasking and how they manage risk and social media).
• Specific issues (i.e., domestic abuse, alcohol, drug use, offending, gambling, and other risk factors which may have a cultural context)
• The parent's daily living skills (how the parent is able to organise and manage daily life. Considers the parent's ability to cook, provide a clean safe home and manage money)
• Support (any gaps are identified in the areas above, and in the parent's support network and their ability to access support).

By using this tool to break down these elements of parenting into testable components, Assessing Social Workers are able to produce and write a good quality, evidence based assessment, which have used a variety of mediums to test each skill. After completing the assessment, the assessor will have a clear visual family profile of functioning that targets the parent’s support needs, as well as outlines any child protection issues.

Throughout their placements at Kaleidoscope, parents will receive a tailor-made teaching package to address and develop any skills and / or areas of concern that have been identified during the assessment process. The assessment is re-administered at week 10 of their placement, to assess the uptake and maintenance of newly acquired skills and knowledge. This will need to be requested via the letter of instruction if required by the local authority.

Additional Tools

When conducting assessments, Kaleidoscope also uses the signs of safety model, and the assessment framework.

Signs of Safety

The Signs of Safety approach is a relationship based, safety organised approach to child protection practice that was created through researching what works for professionals and families in building meaningful safety for vulnerable and at risk children. This is both child centred and family focused. It enables us to collect and process information relating to a number of topics (which include but are not limited to): risk, chronology, employment, perception of self, self-esteem, thinking and behaviour patterns, substance use, previous and current relationships, parenting knowledge and style, parenting skills and abilities and living arrangements.

Through observations, we monitor the extent to which a child appears psychologically safe and secure in their parent’s care. We will also note the parent’s capacity to ensure the child’s emotional and physical needs are met, and observe how parents are able to manage and respond to stressful situations, such as bedtime, waking for feeds in the night and children being unsettled. Using the information gathered from these observations, an assessment is made as to any additional support that may be required by the family, after they have moved on from the family assessment centre.

The Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families

The Department of Health’s Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their families defines assessment as a process which establishes the central and most important aspects of the needs of the child, and the ability and capacity of his or her parents or caregivers to respond appropriately to these needs. Kaleidoscope uses the guidelines set out within this framework to explore the three domains of:

• The child’s development needs
•  Parental capacity – the parent’s ability, commitment and motivation to respond appropriately in meeting the child’s needs
•  The family and wider environmental factors

These three domains are covered with all assessment reports and Final Assessment reports. The conclusion of the assessment report is based on the criteria outlined by the Welfare Checklist.

Protecting Children and Parents accommodated in Kaleidoscope

Safeguarding Procedure

Kaleidoscope has a robust and comprehensive safeguarding policy, which outlines the systems that are in place to ensure children and their parents are protected. Staff must familiarise themselves with this policy during their induction period, and training is provided to ensure that all staff understand the principles and practice involved in the protection of children and their parents, and are able to take appropriate action if they have concerns, and / or receive information which indicates actual or possible evidence of abuse.