AIMS & OBJECTIVES

At Seaview we aim to provide the best conditions to free young people to grow up, in every sense of the word, through involvement in positive experiences.

Seaview provides services for seven young people whose ages generally range from eleven up to seventeen years (i.e. school leaving age) although exceptions may be made under certain circumstances.

Young people who come to Seaview have generally been failed in their right to have their legitimate needs as young people met and this has often resulted in the young person acting out his distress through failure to relate to family members, other people, figures of authority, school, etc.

In many cases they will have embarked upon courses of behaviour which almost appears designed to bring disaster upon themselves or others, e.g. attempts at self-harm, involvement in delinquency, fire raising, etc.

Often they will have experienced many forms of intervention in their life. They may have been provided with special education, social worker supervision, psychiatric treatment, and frequently placed in foster homes, residential schools or other children's homes. In addition to their original disturbance therefore, they have usually acquired a veneer of cynicism or distrust about adults in general, and professionals in particular.

Seaview is designed to initially break down the distrust and sense of worthlessness which may have built up in the young people, and then to allow them to explore the source of distress in conditions which provide safety and an effective means of re-negotiating their place within the family.

Seaview operates within the spirit of the Children Act 1989, Children's Home Regulations 2001, DOH National Minimum Standards and in collaboration and partnership with children, young people, parents and / or significant others.

Many young people introduced to Seaview are under stress which demands that any introductions are carried out in a caring and empathetic manner.