This research was the first phase of a scoping and consultation exercise to identify and establish significant issues in the development and implementation of the Bevern Trust, a residential care home for young people with profound disabilities and a new model of residential care – The Local Model. Project Outline

The Local Model is an innovative system creating a local sense of ownership and control and resulting in a successful support network. Parents do not have a token role, they are trustees, they are on the local management group and they are all represented through the local parent's forum. The model develops local involvement by including other local committed people as trustees, helpers and volunteers.

The outcomes of this exercise were expected to be used to support a more specific programme of research that would focus on assessing the impact of the project, identifying areas of best practice and promoting this service as an alternative model for service delivery.

The project fitted well with Cupp's research themes - it is a model of care that focuses on local ownership and management to address social exclusion and matches with the research interests and skills of the Health & Social Policy Research Centre (now Social Science Policy and Research Centre) at the University, contributing to an increased research capacity within the Centre. As the first stage of a programme of research, this project will also provide valuable evidence that can be used to draw in other sources of funding for subsequent stages.

Project partners

The Bevern Trust

The Bevern Trust is a small charity that has set up a local centre (Bevern View) in a rural community in East Sussex to provide residential, respite and day care for young adults with profound disabilities. The centre provides a home for six young adults, respite care for another eight and an intensive education/activity programme. The centre is managed by local trustees and parents and aims to meet the needs profoundly disabled young people from the local community. For more information visit www.bevernview.org

Former HSPRC - now SSPARC at the University of Brighton

In order to reflect the breadth of the centre's research interests they changed the name from Health and Social Policy Research Centre (HSPRC) to the Social Science Policy and Research Centre: SSPARC.The SSPARC research still includes health and social policy but now also encompasses criminology, sociology, psychology, psychosocial studies, public policy and politics. The centre runs professional courses in social work, counselling and psychotherapy, and applied interests in other areas of social practice such as work with substance misusers and community development. Project Evaluation

Project Evaluation Report - see below