No Wrong Door – Adopt and Adapt

No Wrong Door is an integrated service and approach to supporting youth with complex needs, that has been developed by a local authority in England. It combines a defined culture and practice with a range of services, support and accommodation options and a team of specialists working together through a shared practice framework. At the heart of the model is a residential Hub, which provides short-term placements and outreach support.

The model has been independently evaluated and is evidence informed. Learning from the approach has been shared with a number of local authority child welfare departments in England who have a diverse range of needs and demographics. There has been significant regional, national and international interest, including national calls for evidence and data, light touch support as a ‘critical friend’, large packages of resources and support, through to full scale implementation.

For example, regional implementation is currently taking place in 6 of the 10 local authorities in the Greater Manchester area. This is supported by an ‘adopt and adapt’ approach that recognises that what works well in one context will not necessarily work in another.

There are key principles and elements of the model that remain essential to the development of a No Wrong Door approach. Getting the right balance of ‘fidelity’ and flex (keeping what distinguishes this model from others, while adapting to local need) is key to being adaptive enough to have applicability in other contexts and countries, such as the U.S.

In essence, No Wrong Door is built on faithfulness to a vision, with its essential underpinning values brought to life through consistent culture, practice, service models, and systems changes. More than anything it’s about the people and cultures they create, working collaboratively to take risks, learn together and improve the life chances of disadvantaged youth.