Specialist residential family assessment and support
Tyre Hill House is a residential family centre in Worcestershire providing expert, individualised assessment and specialist support for parents and children.
Our focus is on understanding parenting capacity and capacity to change, while keeping the safety, wellbeing and lived experience of the child at the centre of our work.
Information for parents
What is Tyre Hill House?
Tyre Hill House provides residential family assessments for parents and children where there are questions about parenting capacity and a child's safety, wellbeing or development.
Families live with us while our team assesses parenting in everyday family life. Alongside observation and assessment, parents receive practical and specialist support, with opportunities to learn, practise and demonstrate their parenting skills.
Our assessments bring together evidence from everyday care, direct work with parents and children, specialist assessment and multidisciplinary professional analysis. This helps us build a rounded understanding of what a child needs, what a parent can provide, what may be affecting their parenting and whether positive change can be achieved and sustained.
Tyre Hill House is registered and regulated by Ofsted as a residential family centre.
Our Approach
Every family is different. Our assessment and support are therefore shaped around the individual child, parent, referral questions and the family's particular strengths and needs.
Our multidisciplinary team includes experienced assessing social workers, clinical psychology, early years and child development expertise, and specialist practitioners in domestic abuse, substance misuse and care experience.
The team works together using psychological formulation to develop a shared understanding of the family. This means that assessment, everyday support and specialist work are connected rather than taking place separately.
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Assessment that is fair and accessible
We use ParentAssess throughout our assessment practice. Staff across Tyre Hill House are trained in the approach, alongside training in learning disability and communication needs.
We adapt how we communicate, teach and assess according to the needs of each parent. This can include clearer or visual information, modelling and practising skills, repetition, additional processing time and checking understanding.
Our aim is to make sure parents understand what is expected of them and have a fair opportunity to learn, participate and demonstrate their parenting capacity.
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Relationship-based and purposeful
We know that many parents arrive carrying experiences of trauma, loss, difficult relationships or previous involvement with services. We seek to understand those experiences and how they may affect parenting, while remaining clear about the needs and safety of the child.
We use relationships, activities, interventions and meaningful roles purposefully. By creating opportunities for parents to develop skills, experience success and make a positive contribution within their family, relationships and community, we support the development of a more positive sense of identity and test whether change can be sustained.
Parents are given every opportunity to understand, demonstrate and strengthen their parenting capacity. Our assessments remain independent, evidence-led and focused throughout on the child's experience and needs.
Supporting families
Coming to a residential family centre can feel daunting. Families may be arriving at a difficult and uncertain point in their lives, following experiences of loss, trauma or previous involvement with children's services.
We want families to know what is happening and why. We explain the assessment, listen to parents' views, agree how information and support should be adapted to their needs, and give regular and honest feedback about what is going well and where concerns remain.
Our approach combines warmth, care and respect with fairness, integrity and professional independence.
Supporting care-experienced parents
We have a particular commitment to parents who have themselves experienced care.
Our specialist care-experience support recognises that becoming a parent can bring additional challenges when someone has grown up without consistent family support or has experienced difficult relationships with professional systems.
Care-experienced parents can access enhanced practical, relational and transition support through our relationship with the Rees Foundation, helping to build connections and support that can continue beyond their time at Tyre Hill House.
Life at Tyre Hill House
Meet the people behind Tyre Hill House and get a sense of everyday family life at the centre, our approach and the support available during an assessment.
Thinking about a referral?
Talk to us about the family, the assessment required and any particular support needs. We can discuss suitability, timescales and current or upcoming availability before you make a formal referral.