Doncaster Council

Protocol for Home Visits

Working in Partnership with Parents/Carers

• Show respect for parents/carers/families as equal partners in the relationship.
• Make appointments in advance and offer a choice. 
• Accept families' rights not to want a home visit. 
• Confirm parents/carers actual name and title and keep on record. Do not presume that there are two parents with the same surname as the child.
• Do not assume that all parents are literate. Other issues may prompt the Learning Mentor to contact bilingual support services for the family. 
• Consider issues of Social, Cultural and Religious differences.

Working in Partnership with other Agencies 

• Communicate with other agencies already involved with the family.
• There is a need to clarify the role of other professionals involved to avoid duplication and so that Learning Mentors are not working at cross-purposes with other agencies.
• If the concern is regarding attendance, clarity is needed in school about the Learning Mentor's involvement and that of the Education Welfare Officer (EWO).
• Evidence of good practice is where the two services liaise and support each other with a clear common aim of assisting the pupil/family to overcome barriers to learning, where this involves attendance and punctuality etc.   

Health and Safety 

• Let other staff know where you are visiting and leave details of the address, your mobile phone/Pager and expected time of return.
• Demonstrate normal courtesy - wait to be invited into the home. 
• Ask if an adult is present in the house before entering. If no adult is present, do not enter. 
• If you need to speak to the young person alone, a member of the family or a colleague should be present or near during the interview. 
• If the interview is in another room, the door should be left open.
• Care should be taken that your proximity to the child cannot be misinterpreted. 
• It is important that all contacts with children and families are recorded.
• A note should be made of all people present at the meeting, dates and times etc. 
• Use common sense, trust your instincts and if a situation feels threatening- leave, saying for example, that you are going back to get something from your car.

Where home visits take place it is useful that a risk assessment is taken into account. This will identify any concern about potential violence or risk and appropriate measures to be taken. 

• Check records as to what is known and information available.
• Talk to other professionals who may have already have had contact or involvement with the family. 
• Discuss with the Line Manager what strategies to adopt when working with a potentially difficult parent/carer/family. 
• Where there are deemed to be potential risks - Contact by phone/post and invite them into school.
• Meet them in another public place.
• Do a joint visit with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO), Teacher or another Learning Mentor.     

Guidance for Home Visits

Learning Mentors should make two people aware of any home visit, preferably the line manager and administration officer. As far as possible, two Learning Mentors should make home visits together. An estimated time of leaving and returning should be provided. A mobile phone should be made available to the Learning Mentor. The school should be aware of a mentor’s mobile phone number. The phone number of the home being visited should also be readily available should difficulties be encountered. Mentors should appraise themselves of any previous visits by other staff and acquire background information from social services, Educational Welfare Officers or Educational Psychologists if this is available.

Learning Mentors should be fully acquainted with the location of a pupil’s home and how to get there to avoid having to stop and ask for directions. Learning Mentors should have the appropriate insurance cover as such visits are regarded as ‘business’ by insurance companies. 

If Learning Mentors are anxious on arriving at a location and feel their safety could be jeopardised, they should not take the risk of proceeding further. They should telephone the home and advise that they are unable to attend. Alternative arrangements should be made.

All home visits should be recorded with the reason of the visit, points discussed, agreements reached and any concerns that the mentor may have from the meeting however trivial these may appear at the time. Clear and detailed record keeping may well prevent problems in the future.

Travel plans should only be changed if relevant staff have been alerted. 

Learning Mentors may consider the carrying of a personal alarm.

Public transport is a poor option for home visits since a great deal of personal control is taken away. Only a thorough risk assessment should allow for the use of buses, taxis and trains.

Confrontation should always be avoided. At the first sign of potential danger a mentor should make a speedy exit from a home. Mentors should never assume that violence wouldn’t happen to them. While there are hundreds of home visits made safely every day, personal safety is paramount. Any incident should be reported to the line manager or Headteacher immediately.