Silky Oaks Children's Haven

An organisation of dedicated, compassionate and experienced professionals who really do work to achieve their vision of supporting people and communities to thrive. A pleasure to engage with and it's great to know there are organisations that still focus on their clients in such a meaningful way

I was moved there 18 years ago from a bad situation. Here I felt welcomed. I made many friends here. I found my feet again here too, sure I disregarded the rules and smoked weed and snuck boys in after a night out bu

An organisation that is ran by very dedicated & professional staff. Helping vulnerable children in the community to cope with everyday challenges.

An amazing organisation of professionals working hard to safeguard children at risk. They do amazing work in a difficult space.

I will start this review with my mother is a decent person, she is not a drug user, she does not drink alcohol etc but after 7.5 years of being in her home, had found herself in the Silky Oaks Children Haven. Upon moving in she was sold a fairy tale of how this place operates, it sounded too good to be true and it was. She was treated disgustingly, she had asked to have paper work and important conversations passed on to me and they refused every time! One of the case workers in particular was a bully, who would warn people to stay away from my mum, which was extremely uncalled for. There was a lot of things wrong with paper work, how the place is operated and they refused to let her speak with anyone above them. Many things went on in that place, they were well aware of child abuse and didn't do anything about it, I myself was visiting and had to help a child and it broke my heart! We have both compiled a list of issues from her time at the facility. The carers are meant to help the women find suitable homes, the carers are meant to check in and do their job but they do not! My mum has health issues which stops her from being able to have stairs, they told her she would just have to take a house with stairs, which is extremely dangerous. Three months prior to them making her leave, she begged her case manager to help her get out of there. With no help, her case manager would cancel on her, always be too busy to help, the case manager knew my mum could not use computers due to her epilepsy and was told its no different to a phone, when in fact it is! My mum does not know how to use computers, nor can she. Her case manager did not prepare her properly to go and apply for houses, she did not help her with applications, until i emailed the case manager to tell her what she needed to! Still the case manager had issues sending off house applications as it was "doing her head in." They did not help my mum find accommodation, they made her leave with her five year old son with no where to go and did not care in the slightest. She was lead to believe they would find her a home, that they would not let he leave until they found them a safe long term home. I had a feeling this place was not what they made it out to be and had stressed to my mum my concerns, she reassured me time and time again that they would help because that is what her case manager told her! Trusting her case manager has left them literally homeless, I have done what I can to make sure they are safe until we can find them a home. Without a doubt they became nasty and frustrated with her once she begun to speak up, which is why i believe she was singled out and treated how she was. Her illness was not taken seriously, her mail funnily enough never made it to her, at a meeting mum had dropped something near the desk looked down and there was her mail, again she was bullied by an employee and spoken down to, having a door slammed in her face over a joke. Her cries for help were blatantly ignored, they refused to share anything with me due to confidentiality although it was in writing and verbally stressed to her case manager that she wanted me to have full involvement. They also made it incredibly hard for her to be able to take her concerns higher, which we will be doing, there is plenty of evidence to back up the claims and something needs to be done. It was utterly disgusting, and I will be making sure her experience as well as some of the other ladies stories are heard and taken seriously! Something needs to be done and this so called organisation should be ashamed, the CEO needs to do an overhaul with employees and higher people who actually care, people who know what they're doing and keep it neutral between the women staying there. We are putting in a formal complaint, and going directly to the top I will also seek legal representation if need be, these women will be heard and treated like humans! Not everyone in that place is an unfit parent, not everyone in that place is there due to drugs, alcohol etc and should not be treated less than!

These are some of the nastiest people I know Its bad enough I'm in care and have no parents but they make my time in care truely horrible there's no wifi 1 tv between 3 boys I buy my own they they take it I can't have my fish tanks I can't have pets I cant have friends or family over I can't use the phone when I have no credit I can't go out or they call the police and do a missing persons report I can't be a normal kid when I'm upset the laugh at me they are truely the worst people I know I hate silky oaks.