So why choose us?
We understand the difficulties that you, as local authorities face when choosing to place a young person. With an increasing number of providers out there, it can be difficult to find the right provider. Alongside the basic staff training detailed below, we offer the following as standard with all of our placements:
Laptop
A laptop for all young people, to be used on a supervised basis for educational purposes and to fulfil areas of the pathway to independence (such as applying for jobs, apprenticeships, driving licences etc.)
Remuneration
Better pay for our staff, giving us access to the best support staff in the business, while remaining financially competitive.
Feedback
Quarterly welfare and performance questionnaires, giving local authorities, our staff and our young people the opportunity to voice any concerns, or tell us what is working well so we can continue to improve our service.
Working Directors
We are working directors. Unlike many other companies where those at the top have little to nothing to do with the young people, lined with our vision to do our best for the young people, we as directors will be hands on throughout their placement with us.
Detailed Placement Plans
A highly detailed and tailor-made placement plan, specific to the needs of each individual young person. We do not believe in generic risk assessments or placement plans as every young person is unique and has a specific set of requirements.
Partners
We work alongside a number of advocates, ranging from mental health professionals, local businesses and leisure facilities, and access to experienced professionals who have achieved ‘Outstanding’ grades with Ofsted and are therefore ready for the upcoming regulation change.
Our Vision
Onward Path Care was started with the idea in mind that all the young people in our care should be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve, regardless of their past, background or current attitude. We aim to open their eyes to a world, the likes of which they would otherwise not have had the opportunity to come into and we are committed to providing them access to unlock their potential and give them the best life they can lead. Our continued aim is to be able to look at the end of every placement and say to ourselves “we gave that young person the best opportunities and did everything we could in order to support them in starting the rest of their life.”
We understand that it is not only the young people we need to look after, but our staff, who do an extremely admirable job which can often go unappreciated and unnoticed. Support workers should be rewarded for their hard work and dedication to helping others in the community. We offer our staff access to a better work/life balance through fairer pay. The job can be a very difficult one, physically, emotionally and mentally and we understand that in order to get the best from our employees, we need to show them that we care about them, the same way they care about the young people.
“The Boy and The Starfish”
One morning an old man was walking along the beach. A little while into his walk he spotted a young boy crouched down, scooping something up with his hands. The old man watched for a while and then walked over to the little boy to take a closer look.
“You there boy!” He exclaimed, “What are you doing?”
The young boy looked up at the old man. “I’m saving the starfish from dying. If they stay out in the hot sun all day they’ll dry out and die.” He said.
The old man stood and thought for a moment as the little boy continued his work. Eventually he spoke, “Young man, I have been walking this beach every morning for a long time. There are hundreds of starfish along this shoreline and maybe thousands more round the corner. Every day new starfish are washed up along these shores. You could spend all day throwing these creatures back into the ocean, but you’ll never make a difference.”
The little boy scooped up another starfish and threw it in the ocean. He turned back to the old man and pointed towards the sea. “I just made a difference to that one.”
In life, one person cannot make much of a difference to the world, but they can make a world of difference to one person.
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