Information for professionals
Tyre Hill House is a specialist residential family centre in Worcestershire providing multidisciplinary parenting assessment and support for parents and children.
We undertake residential family assessments commissioned by local authorities, working with social workers, commissioning and placement teams, children’s guardians, solicitors and the wider professional network.
Our assessments consider parenting capacity, capacity to change and whether a child’s needs can be met safely and sustainably within their family.
Assessments are individually planned around the child, family and commissioning or court brief. A residential assessment will typically last between 12 and 16 weeks, depending on the needs and complexity of the family and the questions the assessment is required to answer.
Our approach combines ParentAssess, skilled residential observation, trauma-informed assessment, psychological formulation and specialist multidisciplinary expertise.
Our experienced assessing social workers are accustomed to working within complex child protection and public law proceedings, producing analytical reports for local authorities and the court and, where required, giving evidence in court and being professionally accountable for their analysis and conclusions.
We welcome early conversations about individual families, including where professionals are uncertain whether Tyre Hill House is the right setting.
Information for parents
Availability and referral enquiries
We do not publish live availability because capacity, suitability and matching need to be considered together.
Contact our team to discuss:
Current or upcoming availability
Suitability and matching
Assessment questions and timescales
Specialist or accessibility needs
The information required to progress a referral.
You do not need to have completed a formal referral before speaking to us.
Who we work with
We work with families where there are questions about parenting capacity, capacity to change and a child’s safety, wellbeing or development.
This can include families where parenting concerns sit alongside learning disability or cognitive needs, neurodivergence, previous domestic abuse, a history of substance misuse, trauma, mental health difficulties, care experience, previous proceedings or limited support networks.
Complexity in itself does not determine suitability. We consider how different needs and risks interact, what they mean for parenting and whether they can be safely and appropriately assessed within a residential setting.
There are some circumstances where Tyre Hill House will not be an appropriate placement. These include:
Parents under the age of 18
Current active substance misuse
Current domestic abuse within the relationship of parents seeking placement together
Current self-harming behaviour.
Suitability is considered individually. We consider the referral questions, identified risks, the needs of the child and parent, specialist input and reasonable adjustments required, and compatibility with families already living at Tyre Hill House.
Where there is uncertainty, we encourage an initial conversation rather than assuming a family is unsuitable.
Full admission and exclusion criteria are set out in our Statement of Purpose.
Our Family Assessment and Change Model
Our Family Assessment and Change Model provides a coherent framework for understanding parenting capacity, capacity to change and what any change means for the child.
Every assessment is individualised around the child and family and the questions set by the court, local authority or commissioning brief.
The model reflects an important principle in our approach: assessment should do more than describe what a parent is doing. It should help us understand why, what happens when appropriate support is provided, whether meaningful change occurs and whether that change can be sustained within the child’s timescale.
Our approach is to assess, teach, model, practise, support and reassess.
This gives parents the best possible opportunity to understand, participate, develop and demonstrate their parenting capacity. It also strengthens the assessment evidence by helping us distinguish between difficulties arising from the way information or support has been provided and difficulties learning, applying or sustaining parenting skills despite appropriate adaptation and support.
ParentAssess: one approach across the whole service
ParentAssess is the overarching assessment model at Tyre Hill House.
All staff are trained in ParentAssess, skilled observation and trauma-informed assessment, creating a consistent approach across the residential environment rather than assessment sitting solely with the assessing social worker.
We consider how each parent understands, communicates, processes, retains and applies information. Where needed, assessment and support are adapted through visual information, modelling, repetition, practical demonstration, manageable steps, additional processing time and checking understanding.
Your assessment and support
We want you to have a fair opportunity to show what you can do.
We use an approach called ParentAssess. It helps us make assessments clearer and more accessible and think carefully about how each parent learns and communicates.
That means we won't assume that everybody learns in the same way.
We might show you something rather than only explaining it, practise something together, use pictures or simpler written information, break something into smaller steps, repeat information or give you more time to think.
If something isn't working for you, tell us.
We want to understand what you can do when information and support are provided in a way that works for you.
The team
The people supporting you
You will meet different members of our team during your time at Tyre Hill House.
This may include family support workers, social workers and people with specialist knowledge about babies and children's development, relationships, domestic abuse, alcohol or drug use, emotional wellbeing and other things that may be important for you or your child.
We also have a clinical psychologist within our team.
You won't necessarily need support from every specialist. We will think about what is relevant to you and your assessment.
The people working with you talk to each other regularly so that you shouldn't feel as though you are having lots of completely separate assessments.
Together, we build a picture of what is happening for you and your child and what support might be helpful.
Talking about how things are going
You should know how your assessment is progressing.
We will talk with you regularly about what we are seeing.
That includes things you are doing well, progress you are making and things we think still need attention.
You can tell us when you disagree. You can ask why something is important, ask us to explain it differently or tell us when you think we have misunderstood something.
We won't always agree, but we will listen to you and explain our thinking.
Being open with each other is an important part of working together.
Your experiences matter
Some parents who come to Tyre Hill House have been through very difficult experiences.
You may have experienced trauma, domestic abuse, difficult relationships, problems with drugs or alcohol, poor mental health, the loss of a child, or difficult experiences with services.
You may also have been in care yourself.
We won't make assumptions about you because of what has happened in your past.
We will try to understand your experiences, how they affect you now and whether they affect your parenting or relationships.
Understanding your experiences does not change our responsibility to keep your child safe. It helps us work with you fairly and understand the whole picture.
Information for professionals
If you have been in care
If you have been in care yourself, we know that becoming a parent and being involved with children's services can bring up complicated feelings and experiences.
You may also have fewer people around you to call on for practical help, advice or support.
Our whole team is trained in supporting care experienced parents and we have a specialist worker who understands care experience and can spend time with you thinking about what you need, both now and for the future.
Through our relationship with the Rees Foundation, we can also help you connect with support that can continue after you leave Tyre Hill House.
Depending on what you need, this might include practical help, support with education or employment, navigating services, relationships, confidence, independence and planning for your future.
Activities, strengths and trying new things
Your assessment isn't only about things you find difficult.
We want to understand your strengths too.
During your time here there will be opportunities to take part in activities, learn and practise skills, contribute to everyday life and try new things.
Success matters. Having opportunities to achieve something, take responsibility, build relationships and make a positive contribution can help you recognise your own abilities and build confidence in yourself as a parent and as a person.
We'll also be interested in how the things you learn and develop here can become part of your life after Tyre Hill House.
Getting ready to leave
We will talk about leaving Tyre Hill House before the end of your assessment so that you have time to prepare.
Towards the end of your stay, we will bring together what we have learned: what has gone well, what has changed, what concerns may remain and what support you and your child may need in the future.
Where it is safe to do so, you may have opportunities to manage more things independently before you leave. This helps us understand whether the things you have learned here can continue when there is less support around you.
We will explain our conclusions and recommendations to you and give you an opportunity to talk about them.
Where further support is needed, we will work with you and the professionals involved to help make the transition from Tyre Hill House as clear and well planned as possible.
Sub heading
Find out more
There is more practical information in our Family Brochure, including what to bring, everyday life at Tyre Hill House and answers to questions you may have before you arrive.
If there is something you are worried about or don't understand, you can also talk to a member of the Tyre Hill House team.
Frequently asked questions by parents
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Yes, if you are of legal age, we have a smoking shelter in the rear garden.
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Yes, we have CCTV in apartments but not in bathrooms. Tyre Hill House is a large property and requires CCTV in some areas of the house for safety and security.
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Unfortunately, alcohol is not permitted during the assessment period.
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Yes but this must be agreed in advance with your social worker.
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Yes unless this becomes a safeguarding concern.
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That will depend on the assessment but wherever possible we want supervision to be minimal.