Children's Home run by One To One Crisis Intervention Ltd in Devon

SC068205 Unique reference number 25 January 2010 Inspection date Jennifer Reed Inspector Key Type of Inspection

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children's Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Cripins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcome for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards for the establishment.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is strong Good: this aspect of the provision is sound Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inadequate: 3 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205

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Brief description of the service

The home is registered as a children's home to provide care and accommodation for one young person of either gender, aged from 7 to under 18 years. Staffing levels are provided to meet the assessed needs of the accommodated young person.

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Brief description of the service

The property is a modern semi-detached house, situated in a residential area in a village setting. The home comprises of the sitting room and dining area, the kitchen and a toilet on the ground floor. On the upper floor there is the bathroom, the young person's bedroom, two staff bedrooms, the staff bathroom and the office. The enclosed rear garden provides a paved patio and planted borders. There is parking available at the front of the property and on the street. Local services are within walking distance and a comprehensive range of facilities and additional services are accessible in the nearby town.

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Summary

This was an unannounced key inspection of the home and all key standards were looked at during this inspection. The Registered Manager and staff contributed to the inspection process; the young person was not present within the home during the inspection.

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Summary

Overall, the standard of care is good with some outstanding features. The resilient staff team provide young people with excellent individual support and demonstrate their capacity to deal with challenging behaviour. Safeguarding practice is robust. Diversity and equality issues are appropriately addressed and young people's educational achievement and health is promoted and well supported. Integrated policies, procedures and systems underpin the good organisation of the home and the sound care practices delivered to looked after children and young people. The home provides good quality accommodation and access to a range of activities which young people enjoy.

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Summary

Following risk assessment, and in agreement with Ofsted, the home's Registered Manager is not currently working within this home. However, the Registered Manager currently maintains effective management monitoring of the home whilst deployed within another company home. Two other company Registered Managers work within the home on a regular basis to maintain a management presence at operational level. The Registered Manager reports that the registered person will be making suitable arrangements to cover their planned leave of absence which is expected to commence in the next month.

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Summary

No actions or recommendations were made at this inspection.

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Summary

The overall quality rating is good. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

No actions or recommendations were made at the previous inspection.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. 4 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205 Young people benefit from eating well balanced and nutritious meals and are encouraged to consume a healthy diet. Nevertheless, children and young people can still enjoy the occasional 'treat', for example, eating sweets and crisps. The home operates as a family environment, where young people have a say in menu planning and can readily access snacks and drinks. Food hygiene standards within the home are high and the kitchen and its appliances are kept clean. Staff hold current food hygiene certificates and vigilantly follow safe food handling and storage procedures.

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Helping children to be healthy

The home provides young people with good individual support and care to promote their good health and well-being. Clear health plans are drawn up which guide staff in how best to meet young people's health needs. For example, identifying how to give appropriate support to younger children in helping them manage their personal hygiene. Young people are registered with a local doctor and have regular health checks with the dentist and optician. Any specialist health service is accessed as required, either locally or by working in conjunction with services provided from the placing authority. The home effectively liaises with placing authorities to gain sufficient information about each young person's medical history, to ensure that their health needs are adequately met. The home is rigorous in making sure that young people receive their immunisations within the correct developmental timescales.

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Helping children to be healthy

Medical consent is obtained from appropriate persons to ensure young people promptly receive any emergency treatment that they may need. The home has secured a list of homely remedies, ratified by the local doctor, as suitable for children and young people to take for common minor ailments; for example, colds and coughs. Staff complete training in basic first aid and in the safe handling of medication. The home has established comprehensive systems and records for the administration of medication. This includes arrangements to monitor medicines coming in and out of the home and for the disposal of any unused medication. Written records are kept of significant illnesses, accidents or injuries sustained and of all the medical appointments young people attend. There is suitable secure storage available for keeping medication safely within the home.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is outstanding. Safeguarding practices are strong and young people benefit from the home's robust approach to keeping children and young people safe. The staff team receive regular safeguarding training and staff can access the Local Safeguarding Children Board guidelines for reference and reporting purposes. Staff show sensitivity in delivering daily care practices and they are considered in their approach in meeting young people's personal needs, ensuring support is provided in positive ways that make sense to the young person. Staff show competency in working in collaboration with placing authorities and specialist workers to provide a safe environment which supports young people's development. Bullying is not tolerated in the home and staff are vigilant in ensuring that young people are not at risk of bullying in external settings. The home has well-developed systems in place to deal with absences without authority and for

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

making notifications of significant events to the appropriate agencies. There have been no absences or notifications made since the previous inspection.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Clear information is available to young people within the home's admission information which tells young people how they can make a complaint about the home. No complaints have been made since the last inspection. 5 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205 The home uses a range of strategies to help children and young people to develop socially acceptable behaviour, focusing on the positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour. For example, with younger children the home may use child-friendly reward sticker charts which encourages children to participate in recording their daily progress. The home has well-defined measures of control and these are clearly documented in the child's file, showing staff how best to deal with challenging behaviour. Behaviour management plans advise staff to use de-escalation techniques where possible and restraint is only used as a last resort. Identified behaviours and risks are clearly written in the behaviour management plan and this is updated

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

as new issues arise, helping to keep everyone in the home safe. Details of restraints and sanctions are written in dedicated records and closely monitored by the Registered Manager and the visitor. Staff undertake regular training in the use of restraint.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people have sufficient levels of privacy within the home; in this singleton placement, the young person has their own bedroom. Young people are able to make telephone calls in private, if this is in accordance with their placement plans. Confidential matters are adequately managed and staff know how to share information for child protection purposes.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Risk assessment processes are robust; each risk is assessed in terms of severity and a risk assessment is put in place to minimise that risk. The home also employs behaviour risk reduction strategies, which identify pro-active interventions and measures to limit or stop risk occurring. Risk assessments are completed for behaviour, activities and the home's premises. Regular utility, services and fire safety checks, and drills are completed to contribute to providing staff and young people with a safe living environment.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The company follows safer recruitment and selection guidelines for the employment of new staff, ensuring that all necessary checks are made prior to appointment. Personnel records were not looked at during this inspection; these particular staff files have been reviewed at previous inspections.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is outstanding. Children and young people benefit from the outstanding level of individual support which the home provides to meet the unique needs of each young person. Tailored care practices are delivered to young people and the staff team demonstrate flexibility and resilience in supporting young people with differing challenging behaviours. Difference is accepted and valued. Placement plans are detailed and vigilantly implemented and monitored to ensure young people are looked after well. The home works closely with placing authorities to provide coherent and targeted care practices which promote young people's welfare and contribute to keeping them safe.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Young people are encouraged to take part in educational provision and to maintain regular school attendance. Young people benefit from the excellent support given to them by the home in collaboration with their placing authorities; this has enabled some young people to move back into a suitable mainstream school setting. Staff remain within educational settings to provide individual support to children and young people if this is deemed necessary for their successful integration. Within the home, there is a good range of educational games, books and toys for differing age groups and staff encourage children and young people to take part in activities and hobbies. Staff closely supervise younger children 'at play' in community settings, to protect them and keep them safe. 6 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is outstanding. The home's admission and planning processes benefit accommodated young people. The Registered Manager ensures that all requisite referral information and history from placing authorities is provided to the home. This helps to evaluate the suitability and appropriateness of each potential placement and for the Registered Manager to make a meaningful assessment of how well the home may be able to meet the young person's needs. Young people receive information about the home prior to or on admission. This information, written specifically for young people, provides relevant facts about the daily running of the home and helps young people to make an informed decision about their future placement.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

A detailed placement plan is completed by the Registered Manager and this comprehensive document provides staff with clear guidance on how best to look after each young person. Placement plans are congruent with local authority care plans; they are updated on a daily basis to reflect arising issues and to include recent decisions about the day-to-day care of young people. They are also regularly reviewed by the staff team to make sure that the care provided by the home is effective in helping and supporting young people. Staff vigilantly implement plans and progress is discussed with young people during the weekly house meeting. This meeting gives young people an opportunity to contribute to their placement plan and have a say about daily matters.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff support young people to attend their statutory reviews and to take part in decision-making about their future. The home helps young people to keep in contact with their families and friends, if appropriate, and to maintain contact with their placing authority workers. For example, the home in liaison with one distant placing authority, enabled a child to see and speak with their placing authority workers using a web-cam. The home has systems in place to regularly seek the views of placing authorities and families about the standard of care provided to accommodated children and young people. The monthly visitor to the home speaks with accommodated young people to seek their views about their care; their comments are included within the report.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The provision is good. The home provides young people with a good standard of accommodation which promotes a family environment located within a quiet, residential setting. The home is well maintained, furnished and decorated and cleaning standards are high throughout the home. Being a singleton placement enables the accommodated young person to make this children's home 'their home'. Children and young people can keep their games and toys in the sitting room and are encouraged to display family and personal photographs. Young people have their own bedroom which they can choose to personalise and ample storage is provided for personal possessions.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

When the home is staffed on a 1:1 ratio, it may be possible for the young person to have sole use of the family bathroom. There is also a downstairs cloakroom for visitors, staff and the young person to use. The home has sufficient space for two members of staff to sleep overnight if higher staffing levels are required.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

There is a paved back garden with a summer house, which provides a secure play area for younger children and storage for outside equipment, for example, for bicycles. 7 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The home has a Statement of Purpose which is available to young people, their families and placing authorities. This document provides detailed information about the operation and staffing of the home. On or prior to admission, young people receive clear information about how the home runs, including clarification about expectations of behaviour.

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Organisation

The promotion of equality and diversity is good. Young people are treated fairly and the home tailors care practices to meet each young person's individual needs. The home strives to help young people take part in the community and provides appropriate age-related supervision to enable their participation in social interaction with their peers.

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Organisation

Young people benefit from the good standard of care provided by the consistent staff team. The registered manager is suitably qualified to manage the home and although not currently deployed within the home, undertakes regular monthly monitoring of the home's operation. Two other company Registered Managers work within the home on a regular basis to maintain a management presence at operational level. Staff receive induction training and thereafter, regular training in core work areas. Only one team member is yet to gain qualification to at least the National Vocational Qualification Level 3 award in 'Caring for Children and Young People'.

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Organisation

The home is well organised; staff are supported by regular team meetings and supervision to help them look after children and young people well. The home undertakes risk assessments to identify safe staffing ratios to effectively support accommodated young people. Monthly monitoring systems are robust and any actions identified to by either the Registered Manager or the visitor are promptly addressed to make improvements to the standard of care provided to young people.

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Organisation

Records are generally well kept and the home provides detailed monthly reports to placing authorities summarising young people's progress. Confidential information is securely stored within the home and arrangements are in place for young people to see their records on request.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, The Childrens Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider must comply with the given timescales.

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Recommendations

There are no recommendations. 8 of 8 Inspection Report: SC068205

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