Praise for children’s home

YOUNG people at a Glasgow children’s home have been commended for the way they have coped with the everyday pressures of coronavirus and lockdown.

Staff at Balmore Children’s Residential House for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership have also been praised for their commitment to their job during this challenging time.

Karen McCulloch – the unit manager – sent her story to the SSSC to share how proud she is of the young people in her care and the staff team who look after them.

Ms McCulloch said: “We have eight young people living with us and I wanted to acknowledge how amazingly well they are doing, as are our staff team, during this difficult time.

“Our team have been here with our children on a rotational basis covering 24- hour care.

“We’ve worked to support each other manage the challenges of leaving our family homes to come to our children’s house to love, care and nurture our kids.

“We have tried to make this time not about being stuck at home for our kids but about being safe at home. This has increased the already massive commitment of our team here at Balmore.

“We want our children to look back at this time with positive memories and experiences. We’ve shared our skills with them, including sewing masterclass where our children learned how to use a home sewing machine, badminton tournaments in our garden, VE Day celebrations, exploring our local walkways, Thai Chi, barbeques and scrap booking to name a few.

“We set ourselves a challenge to look at what we are learning right now that we can keep doing instead of focusing solely on the things we are missing.

“The safety, love and care our children are telling us they feel would not be possible without such a hardworking, dedicated staff team.”