Children's Home run by 3 Dimensions Care Limited in Devon

Unique reference number SC407753 Inspection date 18/05/2011 Inspector Paula Lahey Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/12/2010 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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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 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

The home is a modern detached house overlooking extensive grounds. It is situated within a short drive of a small town. There is access to other towns in the area and to shopping, sports and leisure facilities.

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Brief description of the service

The home is managed as two separate units within one house. The ground floor comprises a lounge, kitchen and two bedrooms. The upper floor unit has a large kitchen, office, young person's bedroom and lounge. There is a bathroom on each floor.

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Brief description of the service

The home provides accommodation and care for up to four young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties or learning disabilities, including those who are on the autistic spectrum. There are currently three young women in this home. They meet up for some shared activities, but are generally cared for separately. Education can be provided at the company's school, several miles away.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people living in the home have exceptionally good relationships with the staff team and describe carers as ‘happy, smiley and sharing people’ who take an interest in them and care about what they are doing.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is proactive in its approach to the care of young people and successfully supports them to develop a positive self image, healthy lifestyle and an increased confidence in their abilities. Social workers comment extremely positively on the services that are provided and the progress that the young people make. It is apparent that the home has a positive impact on the well-being of the young people, all of whom have progressed greatly in all aspects of their lives since coming to live at the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The home demonstrates the capacity to improve by successfully addressing the actions set from their own previous development plan. Over the coming year the registered manager wants to involve young people more creatively in writing their care plan so that they can fully recognise their many achievements.

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Overall effectiveness

In order to develop its services further, the home needs to ensure that young people can access a telephone without making reference to the staff, and that they are supported to understand how to keep themselves safe using social media. In addition, the home needs to review its safeguarding training to develop staffs knowledge in this area; ensure that the Statement of Purpose reflects current guidance on the use of restraint; and, ensure that the effectiveness of sanctions are consistently documented.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that children accommodated in the home are provided at all reasonable times with access to a telephone on which to make and receive telephone calls in private, without reference to persons working in the home (Regulation 15 (4) (a)) 20/07/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that all written records of the use of sanctions detail the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure. (Regulation 17B (3) (f)) 01/07/2011

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 review the organisations induction training to ensure it fully equips staff with skills and knowledge to confidently manage safeguarding concerns (NMS 18.1)  ensure that all staff have a greater awareness of the duty to refer safeguarding concerns to statutory bodies (NMS 20.2)  ensure that children are helped to understand how to keep themselves safe when using the internet or social media (NMS 4.4)  ensure that the Statement of Purpose is written in line with current government guidance on restraint, in particular, that restrictive practice is only used to prevent injury to any person or to prevent serious damage to property (NMS 3).

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding . Young people flourish and make significant progress in most aspects of their lives; this is supported by positive comments from placing authorities and families. One parent said; ‘the staff team are brilliant in supporting my child to develop to her full potential’. Young people benefit from personalised care in a supportive and nurturing placement. The staff team sensitively and carefully help young people to recognise and understand the issues that affect them. They work alongside each other to set realistic and achievable goals and young people are supported to take steps towards effectively managing the difficult and challenging emotional situations they encounter.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are modest about their achievements but do recognise how much they have learnt, matured and developed since living in the home. Social workers agree with this and report how they have seen young people’s emotional resilience, self- esteem and confidence grow. Young people develop their own identities through supportive staff and access to personal interests in the community. The home actively encourages open discussion and learning around young people’s heritage and cultural differences. As a result, young people develop a positive self image and a knowledge and understanding of their background.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to access local doctors, dentists and opticians. Health plans clearly set out each young person's health care needs and how these will be met. Staff promote an extremely healthy lifestyle and young people are encouraged to learn how to ensure that they have a balanced and nutritional diet and are supported to be active and take regular exercise.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Education is well supported at the home and young people are able to attend the company school or mainstream schools in the area. School attendance is very good and staff attend meetings and help the young people with their homework. This input helps the young people to take their education seriously and think about what career they would like to pursue in the future. Young people are able to take part in work experience and activities in the community such as the Girl Guides and St John Ambulance.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are supported to establish and maintain constructive contact with families, friends, and other people who play a significant role in their lives. This is sensitively managed and in line with young people’s individual placement plans. Young people say that staff have helped them to access overnight stays with families, maintain regular telephone contact with siblings, and facilitate activities outside of the home where they can meet friends. Staff sensitively and supportively handle any issue that may arise from family contact.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people say that staff are helping them to be more independent and they are supported to make meals, do their own washing and to contribute to household chores, such as doing the dishes and keeping their own rooms clean. Young people are taught the value of money. They are responsible for managing their own budget to purchase toiletries and are encouraged to save pocket money to buy themselves additional items beyond the clothing and activities allowances. Young people show they feel a sense of achievement in being able to buy specific items for themselves from the money that they have saved. All of these tasks help the young people to develop their independent living skills.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is good . Young people live in a rural village in a property that blends into the neighbourhood and resembles a family home and provides a quality environment. The organisation has decorated the property and furnished it to a very high standard. Young people have their own bedrooms, all of which have been personalised to their tastes.

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Quality of care

The organisation has a good system for ensuring that young people have a positive transition into the home. Staff liaise with young people, involve health and social care professionals and families, to ensure that they have all the important information about the young person to be able to meet all their care needs.

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Quality of care

The Every Child Matters outcome areas form the basis of an extremely comprehensive and specialist care planning system. Young people's care plans very clearly identify their specialist and individual needs. Consistent and thorough monitoring enables staff to evaluate the young people's progress on a regular basis. This contributes to feedback to the placing authority and parents. Young people are supported to recognise the progress they make through discussions in key working, house meetings and by attendance at regular reviews. The manager is currently looking at ways to more creatively involve young people in writing their care plan so they more fully understand the content and have a greater sense of ownership about it.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy sound relationships and demonstrate a respect for themselves, each other, the staff team and the environment. The home has high but realistic expectations of young people. It promotes a positive culture of managing behaviour with a focus on encouragement, praise, reward, and de-escalation. Staff model good behaviour and effectively support young people to consider their actions, make informed choices and take responsibility for them. Young people speak positively about the home’s reward system and recognise that this has helped them to manage their own behaviour more positively and learn how to resolve conflict in an acceptable way. Sanctions are used occasionally and these are reasonable and proportionate to the behaviour. Records of the sanction applied is clearly documented, however not all sanction records consistently record the effectiveness of the sanction. This means that it can be hard to determine the impact.

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Quality of care

Young people have input regarding life in the home through regular house meetings, key worker sessions and daily interaction with the staff. Young people confirmed that their opinions and suggestions are put into practice when ever possible. Young people report that they have not needed to make a complaint about their care but are aware of the procedure if they needed to. Young people can make and receive calls on the home’s telephone. However, they have to make reference to the staff working in the home before they can access it. This is in breach of regulations.

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Quality of care

Young people are actively encouraged to develop confidence in their skills. They are supported by staff to engage in leisure activities of their choice. Activities that young people currently partake in include scuba diving, running club, drama, Girl Guides, and swimming. The home also has many games, toys, books and DVDs to keep young people entertained. Young people have helped to plan activities for the holidays and are looking forward to attending a residential stay away.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people confirm that they feel safe and protected within the home. There is a culture of openness and trust, and young people say they can talk to any member of staff about worries or concerns and feel confident that they will be listened to.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has clear, well understood and effective risk management plans in place. These recognise the individual needs of young people and provide staff with suitable strategies to manage any associated risks. Young people are supported to take risks as a normal part of growing up; hHowever, access to social media is restricted. This means that young people have limited understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using technology.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff working in the home have received training in safeguarding, although this is not currently covered in detail at the point of induction. All staff are aware of reporting their concerns to a senior member of staff in response to an allegation or suspicion of abuse. However, their awareness of the wider process involving external agencies and procedures is limited.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff receive regular training in behaviour management including non violent physical intervention. Young people state that restraint is very rarely applied and confirm that they receive the opportunity to talk about the events that led up to the intervention with the registered manager. Incidents are fully documented and it is clear that low key intervention is used and for the minimal amount of time. Policies are in place to guide staff on the management of young people who may go missing; however, the wording of the current Statement of Purpose is unclear about the legal remits of young people missing and the application of restrictive physical interventions.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a home that provides physical safety and security. Fire safety and health and safety checks are regularly carried out and young people confirm they know how to respond in an emergency or fire drill. The home has established systems and structures in place to maintain safe practices and fulfil health and safety obligations.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good . The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager who has the support and respect of the staff team. The registered manager identifies the strengths and weaknesses in the service provided, and is keen to improve and develop the quality of the home. Staff understand young people's strengths and needs, even when they have only lived at the home for a relatively short time. Care practices focus on enhancing young people's quality of life and ensuring that they reach their full potential. There is a commitment in the home to anti-discriminatory practice. Any cultural or racial needs are taken into account and staff will ensure that these are fully met.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from high staffing ratios enabling them to have the necessary individual attention. The staff team work well together and are a positive and supportive group. This means that they benefit the young people as good role models and this has a positive impact.

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Leadership and management

The provider meets the aims and objectives in their Statement of Purpose. This document is available to placing officers, families and other stakeholders and accurately reflects the current staffing arrangements and the services being provided by the home.

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Leadership and management

There are various systems to monitor quality of care, which includes monthly visits by a designated person. Regulation 33 and 34 monitoring is regularly carried out and young people are consulted during monitoring visits. Staff report being well supported and supervised. Regular team meetings focus on the development and progress of the young people and enable staff to ensure that there is a consistent and personalised approach to meet their individual needs.

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Leadership and management

Young people are cared for by competent and experienced staff. Training programmes cover mandatory requirements and are carried out at induction and through regular updates. Staff undertake the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction standards and either hold or are working towards a level 3 qualification. The training delivered ensures staff are equipped with the skills to meet the needs of the young people and purpose of the home. New staff are supported to understand their role by completing a number of shadow shifts working alongside more experienced team members.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s records are well structured and are held securely and confidentially. They cover all matters required in the regulations. There have been no notifications during the past inspection period. However, the team are well aware of the process and requirements to report significant events.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is outstanding .

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