Rainbow House is a building that provides stimulating short breaks for up to 12 children and young people at a time. It also allows parents and carers vital time to spend away from their caring role or with other members of the family. The short-break unit has 12 bedrooms each with en-suite facilities which are fully accessible to wheelchair users, as is the building and grounds throughout. Three bedrooms are in a specially designed self-help unit for young people over 14 to develop their independent living skills.
The name was chosen as a result of a competition among disabled children, which was won by Kristina Pollard in 2009, who received a prize and certificate during a fun-day, when children also designed the logo for the building.
The building opened its doors in February 2010 and because of the terrible winter the gardens were officially opened by the Lord Mayor in July 2010.
Before work started, architects produced a model of the building to show exactly what it will look like and how the space inside would work.
There are links to the new Children's Services home page at the bottom of the right hand side menu.