Thought for the day

A long time ago someone with a good deal of both energy and care for the community invented the Abbeyfield organisation, which provides homes for older people, homes which lie somewhere between independent living and living in some kind of old peoples' home. Bed-sit life with communal trimmings.

Then, from time to time I am reminded of the number of young people who have problems. Problems which are not serious enough for secure care to be appropriate - supposing for the moment that the supply of such secure care is adequate, which in this country, like many others, it is not - but which are serious enough to make living in the family home or earning a living difficult.

So the thought for today, not a new thought but one which I thought I would air today, is that we need something along the lines of an Abbeyfield for young people with problems, something which would need to be paid for, as things stand at present, by their relatives.

The offer would be small flats with front door and key, in middle sized blocks which included a degree of supervision and communal facilities. Games rooms, television rooms and meeting rooms. Some rules about behaviour, particularly in the communal areas. A resident warden - probably actually a married couple - after the fashion of the student halls of residence of my young days.

All we need is another someone with a good deal of both energy and care for the community to get the ball rolling. Rather like private equity companies moving in on small chains of restaurants, once one had a few such homes up and running as proof of concept, the charity and public money would start to flow.

PS: I seem to recall reading in an article about drug flavoured gangs, that provision along these lines would provide homes, an alternative to gangs, for those with difficult lives in their real homes. And it is also the case that organisations like that at reference 2, more targeted at young people with learning difficulties rather than at young people with behavioural difficulties, seem to be moving the same way.

Reference 1: https://www.abbeyfield.com/.

Reference 2: http://camphill.org.uk/.