Raising the Standard of Recruitment for Children’s Residential Care
Not everyone should work with children.Every child deserves someone who should.
Our purpose
Care begins long before a placement is made.
A place to belong.
A future to build.
Hunter & Farmer was not created because the sector needed another recruitment business. It was created because, through first-hand experience of leading a children’s residential home, one truth became impossible to ignore.
Professional appointments had become increasingly transactional. Search assignments needed completing. Rotas needed covering. Compliance needed maintaining. Yet somewhere within that urgency, something far more important was at risk of being overlooked: the individual child.
Transitions matter. The way professionals behave when a young person leaves a home reveals more than any interview answer ever could. Those quiet moments—the farewells, the acknowledgements, the final conversations—are where genuine care becomes visible.
He didn’t come out to say goodbye.
Yet one lesson became increasingly clear. Technical knowledge can be taught. Policies can be learned. Procedures can be practised. But genuine care, emotional maturity, personal accountability, and professional curiosity cannot simply be delivered through training. Some qualities must already exist within the individual.
One moment continues to shape the philosophy behind Hunter & Farmer. A young person was preparing to leave a home following the end of their placement. The management team gathered to say goodbye. One member of staff did not come outside. No farewell. No acknowledgement. No final conversation.
Later, the child made a quiet observation that has never been forgotten. It was not dramatic. It was not reported. It was simply the kind of moment that stays with you—because it revealed what mattered most about the people entrusted with that child’s daily life.
- Genuine care
- Human connection
- Professional curiosity
- Initiative
Hunter & Farmer exists because those moments matter. Exceptional care is built through hundreds of small decisions made consistently by people who genuinely care. Our responsibility is to identify those individuals, develop their professional judgement, and introduce them to organisations committed to helping them become exceptional practitioners.
Better judgement creates better cultures. Better cultures create better childhoods.
The standard of care can never consistently exceed the standard of the people we recommend.
Our positioning
Clear about what we are, and what we are not
We are
- Safeguarding-led
- Judgement-led
- Calm, considered and professional
We are not
- A cheap agency
- A CV-forwarding service
- A volume-led agency
Our standard
What we will not do
These are not marketing lines. They are the boundaries that keep the standard intact.
We won't rush placements
Speed without judgement puts children at risk. We take the time the decision deserves.
We won't compromise safeguarding
Every stage of our assessment exists to protect young people, not to complete a search assignment.
We won't lower our standards
Passing is not automatic, and it is not for sale. The mark only means something if it stays hard to earn.
Hunter & Farmer Assessed™
Every professional we present has passed a three-stage assessment covering judgement, background, and compliance. It is not a qualification or an accreditation. It is an internal assessment standard representing judgement, safeguarding awareness, and professional accountability.
We don’t simply recruit. We assess. We understand. We recommend.
Hunter & Farmer Group
Recruitment is where we are today. The Group is growing towards training, consultancy and children’s homes — without presenting those as services we already operate, and without diluting the standard this page describes.
Today
Growing into