Inside Clare Lodge

There’s much mystery and speculation surrounding the Clare Lodge Secure Children’s Home in Welmore Road, Glinton. Tribune Editor Tony Henthorn met up with the home’s Service Manager – Michael Nerini – to find out what really goes on behind their very securely locked doors

I am pleased to say, that in all my years, I have never had to set foot in a ‘secure environment’ before, and so I truly did not know what to expect when I asked Service Manager Michael Nerini to show me the facilities at Clare Lodge.
This is a secure unit – I mean a very secure unit – you enter through a labyrinth of locked, unlocked, and locked-again doors. Upon arrival you are ‘invited’ to place all your personal belongings in a secure locker and it is in this reception area that Michael gave me my first taste of life inside Claire Lodge: “The girls in this unit are here for their own good, most have suffered terribly throughout their lives and without Clare Lodge offering the services that it does, there is no doubt that some of them would be dead.”
Michael, as I discover over the next couple of hours, is not a man to mix his words. “I think that the best way of describing the girls who come to Clare Lodge is that they are sad not bad.” Michael adds then explains: “Our purpose at the home is to provide a high standard of secure accommodation and support for young women who may be at risk in any other type of accommodation. Local authorities from all over the country place children, who have been made the subject of a court order in our care.”
Michael explained that during the previous week, they had taken girls from Hounslow, the Isle of Wight and Stafford.
The girls are all aged between 13 and 17, although, with approval from the Secretary of State, girls under the age of 13 can be admitted.
It’s a good 30 minutes into our tour of the facilities before we actually come ‘face-to-face’ with the first ‘inmates’. They have just finished their morning maths lesson and are being taken back to their ‘lounge’ (there are four secure lounge areas, each accommodating four girls) for morning break. At all times, each group is accompanied by at least three staff members. One of the group cheerily says: Good morning Michael, don’t forget I’m leaving tomorrow.” This prompts me to ask Michael what happens when the girls are released back into our ‘normal’ world.
“Our primary objective is to prepare these young women for discharge from Clare Lodge, either back to their own family, if appropriate, or into foster or community homes.”
Michael explains that as well as each girl’s ‘key workers’ there is a huge support mechanism in place at Clare Lodge including: social workers, teachers, administrators, cooks and managers. In fact, in total there are over 90 people involved on a full or part-time basis. This prompts me to ask how much this level of support and service costs the local authorities who place children from their areas into Clare Lodge. I’m quite taken aback by the fact that the daily charge per person is over £600.
When we make our way to the sleeping accommodation, I am disturbed by the shouting coming from a room at the bottom of the corridor. Michael explains that noise is coming from a girl who has been isolated in her room to ‘cool off’ (it turns out that she had been disruptive during the earlier maths lesson). It transpires that this ‘room isolation’ is a primary ‘tool’ in combating ‘non-acceptable’ behaviour.
As we pass one of the lounge areas, Michael shows me a complicated chart: “This shows how each of the girls are performing in our points system.”
I learn that points are awarded for a multitude of things – rewards for good behaviour, doing what is asked by staff, attending school, keeping to authorised areas etc. In turn, these points can be used to ‘buy’ rewards such as a TV for their room or a magazine.
This points system is also used to show how ‘good behaviour’ in ‘normal’ society can bring rewards – all part of trying to educate the girls about rules in the outside world. The points system can also be used as a ‘punishment’ with points being deducted for unacceptable behaviour.
As we pass through yet more locked-unlocked-and locked again doors on our way to the gym, Michael explains that they have a very clear policy on smoking – anyone aged 16 or under is not allowed to smoke, if you are over 16, then you are allowed five cigarettes each day. All cigarettes are held in the staff duty room and smoking is only allowed outside with staff supervision. Each cigarette ‘butt’ is then placed in a special waste unit in the staff room, so that girls cannot ‘accumulate’ a number of cigarette ends with which they could seek to later eat and damage themselves.
Clare Lodge has a reputation of being a centre which specialises in the prevention of ‘self-harm’ and you are constantly reminded of the efforts that go into ensuring that all possible precautions are taken so as not to give the girls any opportunities to do themselves damage. Pictures are embedded into the walls, furniture is so heavy (and with rounded corners) that it is impossible to pick up. Any potential danger is removed and the centre is constantly appraising its systems and methods to ensure that there is minimum risk of the girls causing harm to themselves.
Family and agreed friends are encouraged to visit, but all visits must first be cleared through each girl’s social worker and if necessary, accompanied. The girls are encouraged to write letters and have the ability to make a number of telephone calls.
The girls participate in setting the menus for the following week and all efforts are made to accommodate all the dietary needs of various ethnic or religious cultures.
Each girl gets an allowance of around £50 per month for clothing plus pocket money of £10 per week. In addition to this, they are allowed around £20 per month for toiletries. If any of the young people purposefully break anything in the unit, then money is deducted to pay for the damages.

 As well as participating in normal schooling, homework is also part of the daily timetable and there are opportunities to gain certificates and qualifications in various areas. 

   Michael explains that every weekday evening, the groups sit down with their carers for a ‘young persons meeting’ where they can discuss anything that they wish. Once a girl has reached a certain level, it is possible that they can be allowed certain ‘mobilities’. These could include country walks, shopping trips, horse riding, swimming, ten pin bowling etc. When staff feel confident that any of the girls is ready for these ‘benefits’, they will, in the first instance be discussed at case conferences and must have the explicit permission of each girl’s social worker. Michael explained that they had never had any girls ‘abscond’ during these mobility activities.

   One repeating theme during my time at Clare Lodge was the importance placed on ‘consistent response’. Michael explained that it was very important, both in terms of building trust and confidence with the girls, that they understood certain actions will result in certain reactions – or results. “Many of these girls come to us from very troubled backgrounds. It is important that we can start to build ‘normal’ relationships and to help take away their fears and anxieties.” he said.

   As we come towards the end of my visit, I realise that I am still a little confused about how the girls actually end up in Clare Lodge. I understand that they are placed there by local authorities following a court order being made, but I am unclear about what the admission criteria actually is. Feeling comfortable in Michael’s presence after spending the last two hours with him I ask him to indulge my ignorance and explain. “Quite simply, Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 specifies the criteria that must apply before a young person can have their liberty restricted, namely, that they have a history of absconding and are likely to abscond from any other type of accommodation and that is she absconds she is likely to suffer significant harm OR that if she is kept in any other description of accommodation, she is likely to injure herself or others.”

   Many thanks to the professional and dedicated Clare Lodge staff for their help in producing this article.