ABSTRACT
Application in several local authorities has consistently highlighted the need for residential care, ensuring the service has a focused and positive function and does not become a repository for the detritus of needy children that fail to find safe havens elsewhere. Given claims to offer continuity or stability for children in need, disappointment might be a better adjective. The formal goals of the children’s home should emerge through the process. By default, the objectives should accord with the societal goals for children in need manifest in the principles of the Children Act, 1989. The manager must believe that these goals will meet the needs of children, satisfy the principles of the Act and are achievable within available resources. It is important to bear in mind that Cyan was a good home and achieved good outcomes on behalf of the children it looked after.
