New Minimum Care Standards Set By Poots

A new set of minimum standards for children's care homes in Northern Ireland have been published by Health and Social Services Minister, Edwin Poots.

The standards set out the minimum requirements that children's homes must achieve, alongside the level of service that the children and young people living in residential care can expect.

Mr Poots said: "Children's homes provide care for some of our most vulnerable children and young people and these standards will go some way to assure them and us that they are receiving safe, high-quality care.

"Standards create a benchmark against which providers can measure their services and inspectors can highlight areas of good practice as well as matters for improvement."

The Minister added: "Our goal must be to improve outcomes for looked after children and these standards will help achieve this. A number of children and young people who live in children's homes and those who use short break services, were involved in the development of these standards which reflect their priorities and needs, as well as the requirements of the legislation.

"Recent events have shown sharply the need to protect and keep safe the children and young people in residential care and these standards balance the importance of giving these young people a life that compares with their peers with their absolute right to be kept safe whilst under our care."

The standards will be used by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority as part of its programme for the registration and inspection of children's homes to assess and report on the quality of care delivered.

These standards are part of a series of standards being published by DHSSPS. Standards for nursing homes; nursing agencies; residential homes; day care settings; domiciliary care agencies; residential family centres; and childminding and day care for children under age 12, have already been published.