About us
Many authorities are now seeking complex needs places which require multi-layered inputs from professionals and related agencies and Benecare is well placed to meet these requirements. We have always adopted a flexible and resourceful approach in meeting demands from our colleagues for children who are often “difficult to place”.
For Benecare this means that we place great emphasis on “matching” the children and young people to any one of our homes; we endeavour always to provide the best residential opportunity for the child or young person and if we are unable to make a match then we will tell you so.
Our service provision is resilient and we embody the principle that revolves around preferring to ensure that each of the children we care for has another chance when things go wrong. This means that our placements are often long-standing and that the Homes consist of settled residential groups for often protracted periods of time – we do not have schools within our Homes or offer a school’s service. We prefer to enable our children and young people to settle down and then secure for them equitable education opportunities within the local communities.
Referrals Process
All referrals come directly to our main office and are passed from the Admin Support Care directly to our Business Manager.
We aim to get back to the placement officer concerned or the Social Worker within ten minutes of a referral coming in. In general, it will be the BM who will discuss matters with the referring authority in order to determine the most suitable destination for the referral in terms of client requirement.
The referral is then passed on to the Registered Manager of the most appropriate home who will then liaise directly with the Social Worker and/or the carer for the child or young person.
The Registered Manager will make a decision following an intensive matching process often involving further exchanges of information and/or documentation having also consulted with the Responsible Individual for the Home.
We aim to get back to the placement officer concerned or the Social Worker within ten minutes of a referral coming in. In general, it will be the BM who will discuss matters with the referring authority in order to determine the most suitable destination for the referral in terms of client requirement.
The referral is then passed on to the Registered Manager of the most appropriate home who will then liaise directly with the Social Worker and/or the carer for the child or young person.
Where at all possible a planned admission is preferred whereby the placement can be further assessed either at the existing Home and/or if possible, a planned visit to the prospective home which may be an overnight stay or a tea/dinner event.
The overall objective is of course to demonstrate and to assure matching procedures are followed.
Our Managers and care staff do not get involved in the fees and contracts provided for any offered placement; this is a procedure which is conducted via our Admin Support Care and Operations Manager with the placing authority. We prefer to make a distinction between care welfare requirements from a casework viewpoint and the contractual element between provider and commissioner.
We operate an OOH service and are able to deal with emergency requests during these times