Placement searches usually happen under pressure. There is a deadline, a shortlist, and a provider on the phone telling you they can take the young person tomorrow. It is a difficult moment in which to interrogate quality.
These are the questions we think are worth asking any residential provider, including us. Some of them are uncomfortable to answer honestly, which is rather the point.
1. Who is actually on shift, and how often does that change?
Ask for the proportion of shifts covered by permanent staff over the last three months, not the headline staffing ratio. Continuity of relationship is the single strongest predictor of whether a therapeutic model works in practice. A home with an excellent written model and a rotating cast of agency workers is not delivering that model.
2. What is the current mix of young people in the house?
Age range, length of time each has been there, and whether anyone is in the middle of a transition or a crisis. A home with three settled young people and one space is a very different proposition from a home where two placements ended last month.
3. How many placements have ended unplanned in the last year, and why?
Every provider has some. The number matters less than the explanation. Listen for whether the reasons given are located entirely in the young people, or whether the provider can point to something they would do differently.
A provider who has never had a placement break down is either very new or not telling you the whole story.
4. What does the therapeutic offer consist of, specifically?
“Therapeutic” is not a regulated term. Ask what the model is, who trained the staff in it, how often that training is refreshed, and how it shows up in the daily routine rather than in a monthly session. Ask what happens on a bad night, because that is when a model either holds or evaporates.
5. How is education handled from day one?
If a young person is out of education at the point of referral, what is the plan for the first month? Who owns it? Homes vary enormously here, and a placement that stabilises a young person emotionally while quietly writing off a year of schooling is only half a success.
6. How do you handle contact with family?
Contact arrangements are often where the emotional weight of a placement sits. Ask how the home prepares a young person before contact, what happens in the hours afterwards, and whether staff are rostered around it. A cancelled contact call handled badly can undo weeks of work.
7. What will I hear about, and how quickly?
Agree the reporting threshold before the placement starts rather than after the first incident. Ask what a weekly update looks like, who writes it, and how you will be contacted out of hours. Ask to see a redacted example.
8. Can I visit unannounced?
The answer should be yes, with the obvious caveat that the young people living there have a right to privacy in their own home. Any hesitation beyond that is worth exploring. A planned visit shows you the home a provider wants you to see. An ordinary weekday evening shows you the home.
A note on speed
Providers who can say yes instantly to any referral, without asking you detailed questions about the young person, are matching on availability rather than on fit. We would rather turn down a referral we cannot do well than take it and end it three months later. Every unplanned ending costs a young person something they do not get back.
If you are working on a placement now and want an honest read on whether one of our homes is the right match, call us and we will tell you either way.
