£405,000 for new children’s home in Greater Manchester
Social adVentures receives funding from Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) – its first investment in the residential children’s home sector
Salford-based social enterprise Social adVentures specialises in public health, residential childcare and social care contracts. Its diverse portfolio across Greater Manchester includes childcare nurseries, training programmes, a community gym and forest schools. Since it was founded in 2011, the organisation has aim, through a holistic approach, to empower individuals to take control of their lifestyles, fostering healthier and happier lives while reducing dependence on more serious interventions.
Now, a sizeable investment from SASC’s community investment fund (CIF) has enabled Social adVentures to purchase a five-bedroom detached family home in Salford, which has been opened as a new children’s home for three children aged 8 to 18.
Photograph courtesy of SASC
One main objective of this new home is to ensure that more children from the local area can stay near their networks of family, friends, school and other services. That will better enable them to settle better in their new home and give them the best chance of good long-term outcomes.
Children in care often get moved around within the system and this can disrupt and break up key personal relationships, such as those with siblings, relatives, school friends, teachers or others who might offer essential support. Last month, we reported on Department for Educations funding to expand the trailblazing Lifelong Links initiative in 23 local authority areas to build support networks for children in care.
Yet, in the current financial climate, there is often little choice for children than to live outside their local authority area. There can of course be good reasons why it is in a child’s best interest to be placed out of the local area. However, the CMA’s Children’s social care market study final report published in March 2022 concluded that placements outside a local authority area were too often due to a lack of suitable available places within a reasonable distance.
SASC provides flexible capital to enable social-sector organisations such as Social adVantage to increase their impact, with the aim of improving the lives of disadvantaged people across the UK and tackling society’s most pressing challenges.
Scott Darraugh, CEO of Social adVentures, says: ‘The SASC loan has enabled us to purchase a lovely family property in a safe community, which meets the many requirements for opening a children’s home and is the start of an exciting new venture for our organisation.
‘This will provide a home for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties who will be given individualised support, including access to non-clinical services such as art and music therapy, and forest-school activities, plus the other services we currently provide.
‘The state of the children’s residential home market is broken, and more children are coming into care each year. We hope this property is the start of a larger initiative both for our organisation and more widely in Greater Manchester, leading and reshaping the future for children in care.’
Mark Bickford, Chief Executive of SASC, adds: ‘Social adVentures is always looking to innovate in social care and SASC is proud to support their vision for positive change. This investment reflects our commitment to impactful initiatives that make a difference in communities. We believe in their ability to create lasting impact, and we’re excited to be part of this endeavour in the Greater Manchester area.’
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