The short answer: in most cases, yes. Young people in children’s homes use phones and the internet like any other young person: for school, for keeping in touch with family and friends, and for fun. What each young person is allowed is decided for them individually, in their placement plan and risk assessment, and the home’s job is to make that decision work safely in practice.
Who decides
Phone and internet use is usually agreed between the registered manager, the young person’s social worker and, where appropriate, the young person and their family. It is written into the placement plan and risk assessment, and reviewed as things change.
That means two young people in the same home can have very different arrangements. One may have a smartphone with social media; another may have a phone that only calls and texts approved contacts, because of their history or a court order.
Why a total ban is rarely the answer
Taking the internet away completely can leave a young person isolated from school work and from people who matter to them, and it does not teach them how to stay safe online when they leave care. Homes are expected to help young people understand online risks, not just keep them away from the internet. Most homes aim for access that fits each young person, with protection that actually works.
What “safely” looks like in practice
- Wi-Fi set for each young person. Their own network, internet times and filtering, so one young person’s restrictions never limit another. How homes control a young person’s Wi-Fi.
- Phones that keep their protection. A home-owned phone can be locked down so the filtering stays on mobile data and the young person cannot remove it. Locked-down phones for young people.
- Only the apps the plan allows. For example WhatsApp to stay in touch with family, but not Snapchat.
- A curfew at night. Internet off at the times the plan says.
- A way to find a missing phone. If a young person goes missing with a phone the home manages, it can be located.
What about social media?
Whether a young person can use social media is part of the same individual decision. The UK’s planned ban on social media for under-16s will change this for younger residents; our article on the under-16 social media ban and children’s homes explains what it means for homes.
Questions we are asked
Can a young person have their own phone?
Often, yes, if the placement plan allows it. A phone the young person owns personally is harder for the home to manage than one the home provides, which is one reason many homes supply the phone themselves.
Can staff take a phone away at night?
Many placement plans say the phone stays out of the young person’s room overnight, or that the internet switches off at a set time. Both can be arranged; a curfew on the phone itself means the rule still holds if the phone stays in the room.
What do inspectors expect?
They expect each young person’s online access to be thought through, recorded and reviewed, with someone responsible for it and a clear response if something goes wrong. See the six questions Ofsted asks about filtering and monitoring.
Find out more
Read about our IT support for children’s homes, download our brochure, or talk to us.
