Children's Home run by Progress Children’s Services Ltd in Walsall

Unique reference number SC038526 Inspection date 23/03/2011 Inspector Jacqui Gosling Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 29/09/2010 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 Crispins, 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.

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About this inspection

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 outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and the relevant National Minimum Standards for the service.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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Brief description of the service

The home is one of the two detached bungalows operating as children's homes on the same site. The premises are situated at the far end of a cul-de-sac in a residential area. The home provides personal care for up to five young people of either sex from 12 to under 18 years of age, with sensory impairment, physical disabilities and learning difficulties at any one time.

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Brief description of the service

The home currently provides short-term respite care for 17 young people, with each young person staying up to a maximum of 28 days on each visit.

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Brief description of the service

The ground floor of the premises has suitable aids and adaptations to meet the needs of children and young people with a disability. The first floor is only accessible by stairs and provides an office, staff facilities and a bedroom for children who are mobile. At the rear of the bungalow is a private, enclosed and landscaped garden. There is off-road parking for staff and visitors.

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Summary

The overall quality rating is outstanding.

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Summary

This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Summary

This was an unannounced interim inspection. The findings from this inspection are supported by the full inspection completed in September 2010. The judgement for all outcome areas during the previous visit was outstanding.

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Summary

All key standards under the staying safe outcome group were inspected during this visit. The inspection also assessed the progress on the recommendation imposed following the last inspection. No young people were staying at the home during the inspection.

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Summary

The home continues to be judged as outstanding. The staff provide a very high level of care to support young people's complex health needs and effectively support them to communicate their views and opinions. They provide an environment that is safe and secure for children and young people to stay. There are no actions or recommendations identified from this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

During the last inspection that took place in September 2010, one recommendation was made. This has been addressed and now the children's guide contains information on how a child can secure access to an independent advocate and how to make a complaint.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The home continues to provide an environment that is safe and secure, providing excellent arrangements for the promotion, protection and care of children and young people. All staff receive safeguarding training and have access to the Local Safeguarding Children's Board procedures. This ensures children and young people are protected from abuse because staff are properly trained and have a very good understanding of the home's procedures for reporting and managing safeguarding concerns. Children and young people are further safeguarded as staff complete detailed individual and environmental risk assessments for each child which are regularly reviewed and updated.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Due to the nature of the physical and learning disabilities of the children and young people, deliberate bullying behaviour in not an issue. Staff recognise that some young people's behaviour could inadvertently affect others. For this reason, staff work on a one-to-one basis with the children and young people. When planning activities or communal outings they always risk assess the known behaviours of the group and include appropriate staffing levels.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Excellent systems are in place to help protect young people during unauthorised absences. Due to the level of staffing, supervision of the young people and their disabilities, unauthorised absences are not issues within the home. None of the young people have the ability to be safely out in the community on their own. As a further precaution, staff are proactive in liaising with the local police and have in place, pen pictures of all the children and young people who use this service. These include their disabilities, medication needs, communication aids and triggers, for example, some young people may not like to be touched. This is excellent practice and ensures the police are familiar with the complex needs of the young people, should staff need support with the young people while they are in the community. The local police liaison team also joined the home in some communication aid training to enhance their skills in communicating with the young people when they

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

visit the home. This is excellent liaison with other agencies to ensure young people are kept safe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There have been no complaints since last inspection, this is a clear indication that children and young people, their family and the professionals involved have no concerns about the care provided to children and young people during the time they spend here. There are clear policy and procedures in place to manage any complaints should the need arise. Parents and children and young people, where able, are well informed on how to access the complaints procedures. Many children and young people do not communicate verbally or their verbal communication is limited. Therefore, to ensure they have knowledgeable of how to communicate and support the children and young people appropriately, staff also liaise with their schools to gain understanding of their communication aids and use these communication methods to ascertain young people's wishes and feelings. This shows outstanding commitment to ensuring the home can fully engage with the children

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

and young people. Staff continue to receive compliments from parents and professionals regarding the care they give to children, thanking staff for their hard work and commitment to the children and young people in their care.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children and young people have many opportunities for constructive activities and have support from staff to release any frustrations and anger. Staff are good at showing empathy and concern and work hard to help the children and young people to develop more appropriate and acceptable behaviour. Staff also receive training in the use of care and control. They do not use physical intervention, unless it is to keep young people safe from harm. They use distraction methods to diffuse situations and prevent negative behaviours occurring. Measures of control are very rarely used due to the development age and disabilities of the young people. Behaviour management plans clearly address how any inappropriate behaviours need to be addressed. Staff recognise that the other professionals involved with the children and young people can give them valuable advice on different techniques to adopt with them. This ensures continuity between all professionals involved with the

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

children and young people and is excellent practice.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff are proactive in respecting children and young people's rights to privacy and dignity. They make sure that children young people have privacy, choice and control over the support they need and how it is delivered. They clearly recognise that not all children and young people are the same. This is carefully balanced with the need to offer them the protection and safety they require. Children and young people require various forms of care and support, including help to meet various aspects of their intimate and physical needs. The home is proactive in ensuring they obtain consent for these procedures. This includes giving thought to the young people's gender and the gender of the staff member providing the intimate care. Young people's records are kept secure. Staff are knowledgeable and clearly understand why they need to keep children and young people's information confidential.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The management of health and safety processes is excellent and protects children and young people from the risk of harm or injury in the home. Equipment and installations are serviced regularly and there are regular safety tests. Young people take part in regular evacuation drills so that they understand what to do in the event of a fire or other emergency. Risk assessments on the environment and on activities that children and young people may be involved in are robust and are regularly reviewed to make sure that information is up to date.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The staff recruitment procedure is robust and ensures only suitable people are employed to work with the children and young people. All visitors to the home are asked to sign the visitor book and are continually monitored while they are in the home. These robust systems protect young people, as they ensure that unauthorised individuals are not able to gain access to the home.

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