POSITIVE whole family support and engagement from the team at Dovedale House has enabled a young person to return home to his parents – something his Social Worker described as “the best-case scenario”.
Gavin* had been placed into care as he was putting himself in risky situations with older children, had begun using drugs and his relationship with his parents had broken down. The whole family were distraught at the situation they found themselves in and the team at Dovedale was determined to work positively with them to help the youngster return home as quickly as possible. Gavin and his family were local to Dovedale and the team are very committed to working with families in their local area.
At first Gavin’s placement at Dovedale, a residential children’s home in Buxton, was very positive. He was, the team say, “a little bundle of energy” but as the days passed, he began to show aggression and anger – particularly around his father.
This escalated to the point where he would not speak to his Dad, and even the mention of his father would make him very angry. Damage was caused to property and behaviour continued to escalate if Gavin couldn’t have his way. Gavin also had a fractious relationship with his Mum, he felt she couldn’t always keep him safe and he actually expressed himself in quite a misogynistic way, and did try to intimidate female staff.
The team worked hard to put in place firm boundaries and expectations for Gavin, something his parents had previously struggled with. The team felt he behaved as if no-one had ever said “no” to him before. With careful guidance and patience, Gavin began to understand positive rewards and consequences, including paying a portion of the costs for repairs from his pocket money when he damaged items. The team gave him structure to his day and week and worked very hard to stand firm, remain fair and keep him busy.
They helped him develop coping mechanisms, supporting Gavin to write things down when he was angry and express himself that way. He was encouraged to play with children his own age, something he hadn’t done before – and helped to develop positive and age-appropriate relationships with them.
At the same work was continuing to help Gavin repair his relationships with his Mum and Dad. The team worked directly with the family, helping them understand the boundaries and structures which had been put in place and which were helping Gavin progress. Mum was a regular visitor and was given 1:1 support by the home’s Manager.
The family were supported to attend parenting courses – and the team shared with Gavin that it was clear his parents really wanted to do the very best job they could, and were working very hard to be the best parents possible because they loved him and wanted him to return home. They encouraged him to give his parents a second chance. He was supported on home visits which increased in length as time went by and a full and successful transition home has now taken place. The team also worked to support Gavin educationally, helping him maintain his placement in a mainstream school SEN provision as well as developing a really careful re-integration plan to help him fully reintegrate into the main school.
Isabel Spinks, Gavin’s Social Worker, said: “The team at Dovedale House have been amazing, they really have enabled the best case scenario for Gavin and his family.
“They were incredibly supportive of Gavin’s wishes, but ultimately the way they managed the relationships – and the rebuilding of the relationships across the whole family – was excellent.”
*name has been changed to protect confidentiality