residential children's home to open in our street

[steppemum]

Got home last night and there is a letter through our door from a neighbour.
Apparently there is a planning application in to change the use of a house to a residential childrens' home. The letter was asking for people to put in ojections to the planning application.

I walked past the house today.
We are a quiet road, dead end, the house in question is large with big garden and another house built at the end of the garden (they built it and sold it off) It is close to neighbours but detached. Has its own large drive for parking. The application is for both the main house and the house in the garden to together become a childrens home.

I can't see what the problem is! I am tempted to put in a comment to the planners to say this is a nice quiet, safe road for a kids home.
I am glad that there will be more facilities as our council has a great deal of trouble finding enough foster homes.
We are detached but very close to neighbours, and we never hear a thing.

Am I being naive?
Is there any reason why this house might cause problems?
Honestly I just think this is NIMBY ism. But is that me being naive?

Yes you are naive OP, sorry.

To those wondering where would people like these children to go? Well, I would like them to have a decent place, rather like a boarding school, where there is continuity of staff and facilities that the children need - such as a sports area or something like that. A large common room with games equipment. A friendly canteen.

A residential house is too small, not fit for purpose, random staff will be coming and going and it will be really boring for the kids living there.

I think its very kind and welcoming of you OP but they don't all come with sweet little kiddies who are looking for a new 'mummy and daddy' they are usually a special type of placement home where the kids have pretty high behavioural needs to varying degrees. A close relative of mine was in one and I won't lie they did get up to mischief ( and I'm using mischief rather lightly) . I think its a really tough one.

All kids deserve a chance and I do think it's a little unfair people doing petitions constantly to stop these facilities, BUT then I can also see why people worry too.
I'm not really sure what the solution would be to the issues as I've seen this sort of facility with big wide open land amazing hobby activities and things still don't run so smoothly. Again though alot of the kids in these places have had various traumas in their lives.

A house in my village has been bought and it will be used for respite for children with additional needs. A woman who lives opposite but several houses down from it said to me "it would be okay if it was for normal kids". I was so disgusted I walked off and have barely said a handful of words to her since.

Another resident complained that in the house opposite him - a different house - where people transitioning from prison live, have had taxis and takeaways arrive.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

My brother grew up in one. He said there were alot of violent and suicidal kids. There was always an ambulance/police car being called.

I work in a children’s home.

In the company I work for a lot of effort is put into having homes in residential areas so the children have a ‘normal’ home.

In a three/four bedroom house the maximum number of children will be two.

Depends entirely what kind of children and why they are in a home. Also how many children?

"the worst of the worst" - these are children

My sons overnight respite facility for disabled children was classed as a residential children's home. They caused no problems for neighbours.

I've lived in similar (for teenagers) and we had everything from fighting to runaways, drugs & self harm so ambulances, police & carers. One seedy thing to consider is the worst men in the world find out where these houses are and they try their best to exploit the kids in them. So expect more cars and men around the place if they were similar to the one I was in. They have to go somewhere though and there aren't enough of them. If it's more of a respite or housing for disabled children, you might not have the same issues.

its difficult.....I'd dig into what actual kind of home it will be.....

My friends GC is in a home which sounds similar. The house is well run with good consistent staff. The children all have their issues yes but they certainly don't have police and ambulances there on a regular basis. Friends GC is not a bad kid - there due to the incompetence of one of their parents more than anything GC has done.
These kids need somewhere safe to go and a stable environment. A detached house with adequate space sounds ideal.
I too would support the proposal

It really depends on the age of the children, under 12, you will likely get minor issues.

Post 12 be prepared for lots of anti social behaviour, shouting, swearing, drinking, open drug taking, regular visits from the police etc.

Of course children with complex needs need support and housing, unfortunately the support part is lacking so when they are housed it causes lots of trouble for local communities. Also be prepared to have a big chunk of your house value lost.

Yes I would support it. I've seen enough neighbours with parents and children who were antisocial.

These kids could do with a safe, dry, mould free home with an actual place to sleep and things to call their own. A lot of them will not have had more than sleeping on the sofa or on a mattress with no bedsheets and being abused.

If I was a young person with a troubled start in life I wouldn't want to be housed in a boring out of town residential street, surrounded by retirees and with limited public transport and amenities. Main attractions within a 30 minute walking radius included local corner shop, library (closed most of the time) and a pub. I appreciate I come from the privileged vantage point of never having had to live that life, so perhaps I am completely wide of the mark.

I would imagine young people would want access to a location with facilities and amenities which would appeal to young people e.g. youth clubs, gym (open air or indoors), sports facilities, skate park and also shops and cafes etc. Other young people to socialise with and a more vibrant atmosphere.

Maybe someone with more experience can comment on what location is best for children in care, but surely a residential estate in the boring burbs isn't great.

I'm a foster carer and there are just not enough foster placements for DC who have either no parents or parents who can't care for them. A lot of children's homes are in cities and many don't have gardens. I'm having a new placement tomorrow who has been living in a children's home. He's been to see our home and when he saw the big garden his face broke out into a huge smile. He asked if he could play football there. If this house near to you has a big garden and is in a quiet area please drop a line to the council to say it sounds like a good place for DC to grow up. Hopefully near a good school too. I wish people would remember these DC do not choose to live in care. We need more compassionate people like you OP. ❤️

On My road there are 10 houses, everyone has big gardens, minimum 1 acre each so well spaced out. There is a children’s residential home in a converted farm house. Very occasionally they have a young person who absconds, police can visit to ask us to check outbuildings but to be honest, they are generally very discreet and we have no bother.

There was an application for a home for ‘troubled teens’ in my ILs naice countey village. The NIMBYs were up in arms but it went ahead anyway. In 4 years I think the only trouble they have had was when one of the teens tried to run away to see his friends who lived a few miles away so nicked a bike from the pub car park. He made it about a mile before the staff found him half way up a large hill, regretting his decision. He returned the bike and apologised. That’s the extent of the issues faced in that area.

As other posters have said if they are properly managed it should not be an issue.

If its a cul de sac that will discourage 'undesirables' as they can find themselves trapped by a single police car.

As suggested look at the track record of whose running it.

Also there are issues about conditions attached to the application. An obvious one might be that all employees and anyone visiting has to park 'on site' and not on the adjoining roads.

I am no expert in terms of what could be applied but conditions could cover many of the issues raised eg noise, support levels etc

I lived 2 or 3 houses away from a large childen's home 10 years ago. I only ever heard any commotion once in the 5 years I lived there, and even that was minor.

I'd have no issues with it.

The aim is to move away from a boarding house system and into houses which are more along the lines of a single residential home.

@6strings1song, I foster and live in a suburban area in a quiet cul des sac. I drive DC all over the place. Just drove a teen to the gym an hour ago. Will be collecting in another 45 mins. Close to us there is a lake that is nice to walk around, a playing field, a BMX track, a local school 15 mins walk away has a swimming pool and gym that people from the community can access. Within a 20 minute walk there are also karate lessons and a trampoline park and Beaver, Cub and Scout packs. We are 4 1/2 miles from a large town.

@steppemum Years ago we lived in a street that had a foster care home in it for hard to place children.

The level of predators for teenage girls was so bad that the foster carers said they couldn’t keep the girls safe.

They had boys , but this was long before county lines.

It’s not going to be fluffy easy to care for children-
It’s probably children who are hard to place in even experienced foster homes, so they will be exhibiting very tricky behaviours.

This isn’t true at all wtf

Ok. @6strings1song . But you said your reasons for not wanting them in your area were
Reasons included police and ambulances often being called to the address at all hours and disrupting the enjoyment of the area. Staff cars being parked in the street all day and night, including deliveries etc. Possibility of relatives turning up and causing disruption etc

So which areas is it ok for people's lives to be disrupted in the way you describe as not being suitable for you area if not yours? I didn't see much concern in your original post for how your area wasn't suitable for the children.

@Fairyliz this is absolute bolllocks. We have a house that is a children's home directly opposite us. It doesn't affect the home insurance. We have the occasional police car parked outside and very occasionally might hear one of the children shouting at a carer but have never witnessed any events that might require police.
The only incident we have had in ten years of living here is when a little boy threw a snow ball at our window and it smashed the stained glass. He was a bit cheeky but he came round and apologised and the home offered to pay for the damage.