The short answer: give each young person their own Wi-Fi network, with its own password, its own list of approved devices, its own internet times and its own filtering. Then one young person’s placement plan never has to limit anyone else, and staff can change one young person’s access without touching the rest of the house.
Why a home router’s parental controls are not enough
Most broadband routers come with parental controls. They work well enough in a family home, where everyone lives under the same rules. A children’s home is different:
- One password for everyone. Once a young person has the Wi-Fi password, every phone, console and laptop they own has the same access.
- The same rules for the whole house. If one young person’s risk assessment says no social media after 9pm, the router usually cannot do that for one person only.
- Easy to get round. VPN apps, a different device or a reset can undo most router controls.
- No record. Nothing tells you who changed what, or when, if an inspector asks.
What controlling a young person’s Wi-Fi looks like in practice
These are the requests children’s homes send us most often, and how each one is handled.
“Add his new phone to the Wi-Fi”
Each young person’s network only lets in devices that are on its list. A new phone, TV or games console is added to that young person’s list, and nobody else’s. The home’s manager can do this themselves in a minute, on a phone or a computer, or ask us.
“Change her internet times for the school holidays”
Internet times are set for each young person and can be different on each day of the week, for example off at 9pm on school nights and 10:30pm at weekends. Holiday times are a change to that young person’s week, and nothing else in the home moves.
“Block TikTok for him, but leave YouTube”
A single app or website can be blocked, or allowed, for one young person’s network, or even for one device. That means a placement plan can say “WhatsApp yes, Snapchat no” and the Wi-Fi actually follows it.
“The Xbox is on all night”
A curfew can be set on one device, such as a games console, while the young person’s phone keeps its own times.
“Switch her Wi-Fi off now”
A manager can switch one young person’s Wi-Fi off straight away, without affecting the other young people or the staff. Staff Wi-Fi is protected, so it cannot be switched off by mistake.
Keeping it safe for staff to change
Letting home managers make changes is only safe if the changes cannot go wrong. In our app, each manager only sees their own homes, every change is recorded (who made it, when, and what it was before), and a built-in check stops any change that would knock a connected device off the Wi-Fi.
Stopping young people getting round it
Young people are resourceful. VPN and proxy apps are blocked on every young person’s network we manage, and homes built to our full standard also block the encrypted DNS tricks that some apps use to dodge filters. For the phone in their pocket, which leaves the home’s Wi-Fi behind when it switches to mobile data, see our locked-down phones for young people.
Questions we are asked
Can the home still have Wi-Fi for staff and visitors?
Yes. Staff have their own network, kept apart from the young people’s, and visitors can have a separate guest network.
What if a young person moves on and a new one arrives?
Their network is reset for the new young person: new password, new device list, and times and filtering set to the new placement plan.
Does this work in every home in a group?
Yes. Every home is set up the same way, so staff moving between homes find the same arrangements, and so does an inspector.
Find out more
Read about our secure Wi-Fi for children’s homes, download our brochure, or talk to us.
