National Minimum Standards for Residential Family Centres

1.	Purpose
2.	Quality of Care
3.	Parents' and Children's Rights
4.	Protection
5.	Staff
6.	Premises

6. Premises
Parents and children should live in pleasant, well designed and maintained surroundings, with enough space and facilities to meet their needs.

Location. A centre should be situated in a location that takes into account local transport, education, health and leisure facilities.

Decoration. The centre should be decorated and furnished to a standard that creates a pleasant homely feel. Where needed there should be a quiet area for residents, including children, to study. Both in the inside and exterior of the centre should be well looked after. Gardens and play areas should be well maintained and safe for people to use.

Families' rooms. Families are provided with a private bedroom, which has usable floor space, fittings and furnishings that meet their individual needs.

Bathrooms, showers and toilets are sited and designed to take into account people's need for privacy. Doors should be lockable but staff should be able to open them from the outside in case of an emergency. Toilets and bathrooms should not normally be shared between no more that 5 people, regardless of age.

If there are no fully self-contained flats, there should be shared spaces available for families to use in addition to their private rooms.