Bloxwich house to become children’s care home as plans approved

Ash House Care Limited has been given the go ahead by Walsall Council to use the property in Broad Lane to cater for youngsters aged between six and 18 who have learning difficulties.

The applicants said the idea is to great a strong stable home and give the children a ‘normal family life’ instead of placing them in an institution.

They also said Ofsted had identified the number of available homes across the country was not enough to meet demand, a trend experienced in Walsall.

The new property would cater for two children with three carers being on site during the day and two during the evening.

Agents Knights said: “The care home would be operated by three carers during the day and two carers during the night working a regular shift pattern in order to provide continuity with the children and create a family environment and bond with the children.

“In addition to this a visiting manager would attend the property on occasions during the week to oversee the operations, safeguarding responsibilities and deal with administration.

“The proposal would provide medium to long term accommodation for up to two children, with ages between 6-18 years of age with learning difficulties.

“The proposed home would specialise in young children who are usually non-verbal and suffer with autism and other associated learning disabilities.

“This range is broad as it enables the applicant to look at the individual young person and make an assessment of their needs and whether they can help them in one of their homes.

“The ethos behind the applicant’s intended operations of this property would be for the residence to provide an environment as close as practically possible to normal family life in order to ensure that the children can live a life of normality in the local community.

“The proposal is not a ‘half way’ house or a facility that would provide overnight emergency lodgings for example.

“The applicant considers that such properties can offer a better and stable home environment than what would be the case in larger institutions as they enable individual needs to be met and allow the children to integrate into their community and live as equal citizens.”