Who we support
The question is never whether a child is suitable.
It is whether we are.
Oasis House is designed as a home for up to two children, of any gender, aged 5 to 17.
That describes the home, not a child. Whether it is the right place for a particular child is a longer question — and this page is our honest answer to it.
- Ages 5 to 17
- Up to two children
- Any gender
Before the list
A child arrives as a whole person, not as a set of needs
By the time a referral reaches us a child already has a history, relationships that matter to them, a way of communicating, a stage of development they have actually reached, things they are good at and things they find hard.
Two children could share the same three words on a referral form and need almost entirely different homes.
So we read what is written about a child, and then we ask about the child. Both, in that order, every time.
Who we may be able to support
The needs Oasis House is designed around
The home is designed and resourced for children living with one or more of the following, and often with several at once. They are descriptions of what a child may need. They are not categories a child belongs to.
Mild to moderate learning disability — where a child’s intellectual functioning and everyday living skills mean they do better with structured support, accessible communication and a plan written around them rather than around a service. The home is designed to build participation, independence and confidence at whatever pace is right for that child.
Autism — social communication differences, sensory processing needs, and a preference for routine, predictability and structure. A house with two children and a small, consistent staff team is a quieter sensory environment than a larger one, and the routines here are meant to be genuinely predictable rather than nominally so.
ADHD — differences in attention, impulse control and activity levels. What helps is structure, steady relationships and individual support towards self-regulation, confidence and achievement — not tighter control.
Neurodiverse and co-occurring needs — most children this home is designed for will have more than one of the above, sometimes alongside Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, sensory processing differences or communication needs. Planning responds to the individual child, not to a diagnosis.
Developmental trauma and adverse childhood experiences — abuse, neglect, loss, separation, domestic abuse, or a run of placements that did not hold. The model is built on understanding what those experiences do to a child’s emotional, social and behavioural development — and on the fact that what they left behind is neither the child’s fault nor a fixed feature of who they are.
Matching
The same question, asked from both sides
A placement is not a room becoming free. It is a judgement about whether this home, this child, and any child already living here can work — made before anyone moves in, rather than discovered afterwards.
About the child
- Their assessed needs, risks and strengths — all three, not just the middle one.
- Their care plan, health information and education arrangements.
- What the placement is actually for: the outcomes it is meant to achieve.
About the home
- Whether our resources, staffing and approach can meet those needs in practice.
- Whether we can safeguard this child and support real progress, rather than simply accommodate them.
- How the placement would affect the child already living here — and how living here would affect them.
A placement is offered only when the answer on both sides is yes.
That judgement is written down as a matching and impact assessment before any admission is agreed. Where a placement goes ahead, a pre-placement planning meeting means the first day is planned rather than improvised.
Two children, one home
For the second child, the question gets asked twice
Because this home is designed for two, every placement after the first is also a decision about the child who already lives here. Their stability is not a secondary consideration to be weighed up later. It is part of the same assessment, and it carries the same weight.
Compatibility is not about whether two children will like each other. It is about whether their needs and risks can sit in one house without one child’s hardest days becoming the other child’s ordinary experience.
An impact risk assessment is completed before any admission and reviewed as circumstances change. Getting the pairing right is something we will not rush.
When this may not be the right placement
Sometimes the right answer is no, and saying it early is part of the job
Oasis House is a children’s home. It is not a secure children’s home, a mental health hospital, a residential special school or a specialist clinical treatment facility, and it does not hold itself out as any of them.
So there are children this would not be the right place for — because of what this home is, not because of anything about the child.
- Where a child needs secure accommodation.
- Where a child needs inpatient psychiatric assessment or treatment.
- Where a child needs intensive clinical, nursing or medical care beyond the scope of residential childcare.
- Where a learning disability or additional need calls for specialist provision, staffing or environmental adaptation beyond this home’s resources.
- Where the risks involved could not be safely managed within this home’s staffing model, environment and available professional support.
- Where a placement would significantly compromise the safety, wellbeing or stability of a child already living here.
Where we cannot offer a placement we will say so, with reasons. A clear no, given early, is worth more to a child than a placement that breaks down.
And a vacancy is never the reason. Oasis House will not accept a placement simply because a room is free — if the match is wrong, the room stays empty.
Where this stands
What can be discussed now
Oasis House is currently progressing through the Ofsted registration process. We welcome enquiries from local authorities, commissioning teams and professionals who would like to discuss future placement availability. Referrals will be accepted once registration has been granted.
Until registration is granted a referral cannot be accepted — but a conversation can happen at any time, and nothing said in it commits anyone to anything.
Please do not include any information that identifies a child in a first written enquiry.
Discuss a Future Placement