Eligibility

To be eligible for referral and access Honeypot services, a child must:

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• Be aged 5–12 years

• Be a young carer, or a child experiencing significant challenges at home (such as bereavement, family instability, trauma, or other adverse circumstances)

• Be experiencing a negative impact as a result of their circumstances in one or more of the following areas:

  • Physical or mental wellbeing

  • Educational attainment or engagement

  • Emotional and behavioural development

  • Family relationships and/or social or peer relationships

If referring for respite breaks, the child must be compatible with the respite personal care and behaviour guidance below. 

 

We understand that in some cases, a child may no longer be a young carer, but the impact of their experiences may continue. We are therefore happy to consider applications for former young carers or children whose circumstances have recently changed on a case-by-case basis.

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Honeypot respite breaks are highly social, with an effective child-to-staff ratio of 4:1. Many of the children we support face challenging home environments. During their time with Honeypot, we aim to provide a fun, safe and nurturing space where they can relax, build confidence and enjoy being children.

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At present, our service is not well suited to children whose needs may:

• Significantly impact the group environment, or

• Require a high level of individual supervision beyond our staffing ratio

 

We ask referring professionals to make an informed and objective assessment of a child’s suitability for a group residential setting before submitting a referral.

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Indicators that a respite break may not be suitable at this time include:

• A requirement for one-to-one support in school due to behavioural needs

• Physical or verbal aggression towards peers or adults

• Absconding or leaving supervised environments

• Persistent difficulty following reasonable adult guidance

As a small charity, we are not able to provide specialist or one-to-one support on our respite breaks. We kindly ask referrers and parents/carers to consider the following before making a referral or accepting a place.

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Children attending a Honeypot break should be able to:

• Cope with being away from parents or carers in a new environment

• Follow instructions from adults consistently and positively

• Take part in and enjoy group activities

• Cope with a lively and sometimes noisy environment

• Manage emotions such as frustration or anxiety using appropriate coping strategies (e.g. talking, time out)

• Manage their own personal care, including toileting, washing, brushing teeth and getting dressed

 

Children who feel very anxious or uncomfortable in unfamiliar social settings may find Honeypot challenging. In these cases, we can offer families an informal online meet and greet to help them decide whether a referral feels appropriate.