You will have your own room, some of them are en-suite. If your room isn’t en-suite, you’ll have access to the shared bathroom.

Your room will have a bed, bedding, towels, TV, cot (and/or moses basket), drawers and in some the rooms there is a sofa and small living area. We encourage you to make your room your own by displaying pictures, photographs and other personal items. If we can add anything to your room to make your stay better, please let us know.

Each bedroom at Amber has the facility for CCTV to monitor you and your child whilst in your room. The use of CCTV has to be requested by the Local Authority and when you arrive at Amber Family, you will be asked to sign a form to confirm how the CCTV will be used and it has been explained to you. Your Key Worker will take you up to the office to show you what can be seen on the CCTV in your room. It’s a very small camera and microphone and you’ll soon forget it’s there! There is no CCTV in bathrooms or in the communal areas where you’ll sit with other families.

There are lots of nice walks a short distance from Amber with two parks within a 10 minute bus ride. Southport town centre is a 15 minute walk away and there is an Asda, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi all within walking distance. The GP surgery is a 5 minute walk away and you’ll be supported to contact the Doctor, Dentist (if required), Health Visitor and other Universal Services.

Each setting can take up to four families at any one time. Therefore, there could be up to 24 parents living at Amber Family.

No, parents can’t use Wi-Fi as our team need access to our network to communicate with Local Authorities, Solicitors and other professionals. The more people that use the Wi-Fi connection, the slower it becomes.

Amber Family has a Visitor’s Policy that will be explained when you first arrive. Between your Social Worker, our Registered Manager and you, a Placement Plan will be written and as part of this plan, it will be agreed who is allowed to visit you during your assessment. You need to notify your Key Worker of any visitors at least 24 hours before they want to visit. This will give us the opportunity to ensure there are enough staff on duty to accommodate.

Of course! We would be happy to show you round so that you can see your room, meet the staff, have a look round the area and talk to some parents who are already staying with us.

Whilst in the communal areas of any Amber Family setting, you’ll be loosely supervised by staff on duty. If you want to go out into the community, you will be fully supervised by a member of staff for the first six weeks of your placement; this is so we can ensure that you’re able to safeguard your child whilst away from Amber Family. This arrangement is always reviewed at the mid-point in your placement, at six weeks and recommendations will be made about you accessing the community on your own if the first six weeks have gone well. Whilst in your room, there is an option for us to supervise you via CCTV but this isn’t monitored all the time.  If we have concerns however, about your ability to safeguard your child whilst in your room, we will use CCTV to evidence how you are doing.

All parents are given two hours babysitting time each week. Any babysitting time must be “booked in” with your Key Worker at least 24 hours in advance to ensure there are enough staff available to look after your child.

Of course! If you need any support contacting your Social Worker or any other professionals, then the staff at Amber Family will be happy to help you.

There is a very relaxed atmosphere at Amber Family and staff don’t “watch” you all the time. Our staff are trained to assist and support our parents rather than direct and interfere!

There is no “typical” day at Amber Family! Each morning we look in the diary to see who has appointments, midwife visits, visits from family and our staff will talk to our parents to find out what they want to do with any “spare” time. Southport is located a 15 minute walk from the sea front and promenade and there are a number of beautiful parks within a 10 minute bus ride. If the weather isn’t fit to walk out then we have a large selection of things to do in the house; bake, cook new recipes, create and decorate memory boxes that will represent their childs first few months, watch DVD’s or play on the Wii.