Children's Home run by Dove Adolescent Services Limited in Wakefield

Unique reference number SC060811 Inspection date 30/06/2011 Inspector Debbie Foster Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

p.1

Date of last inspection 14/01/2011 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

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.

p.2

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.

p.3

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.

p.3

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

p.3

Brief description of the service

The home run by a company provides care for two children who are aged between eight and 17 years old. The statement of purpose sets out that the primary reason for a young person’s placement is to support their emotional or behavioural difficulties. The service will take the planned and emergency placements of young people.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

p.4

Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from a tailored and individual care approach to meet their needs. This is enabling them in making progress in a number of areas within their lives. The staff team are committed, child focussed and supportive which is assisting young people to reach their potential.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

Strong and positive relationships exist between the staff and young people. Young people are actively consulted and their views sought and acted upon in a number of ways. This assists young people in building trust and in turn enables them to work with staff well.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

Good risk assessing and fire safety practices keep young people safe. Staff are committed to addressing individual safety and welfare issues with young people.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

Young people are benefitting from the importance staff give to their education. Their good attendance and participation is beginning to influence and bring about personal achievements.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

The home has built links with a number of supporting professionals to respond to the diverse needs of young people. Young people have their needs assessed well, and good written placement plans outlining how these needs are to be met. Staff use the placement plans and supporting documents very well to support and bring positive outcomes for young people.

p.4

Overall effectiveness

The staff team have built on their experience and express confidence in the manager. A wide selection of mandatory and other training areas related to the needs of the young people are being provided to the staff. There are good communication and monitoring systems in operation to support good care practices. The short falls identified during this inspection are that not all staff have yet attained level 3 Children and Young People Workforce Diploma qualification and that there is not an up-to-date development plan.

p.4

Recommendations

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

p.5

Recommendations

 ensure all staff attain a level 3 Children and Young People Workforce Diploma qualification (NMS 18)  provide an up-to-date development plan. (NMS 15)

p.5

Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy good health because their health needs are effectively identified and services are provided to meet them. They are encouraged and supported to attend routine appointments with dentists, doctors and opticians. Where age- appropriate, young people are encouraged to take some responsibility for making their own health appointments. A young person made their own health appointment during the inspection. The young people’s health is closely monitored and record keeping is good, enabling staff to change their ways of working or inform medical professionals of health progress.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Specialist health workers are involved where appropriate to promote good health and discourage unhealthy behaviours. Healthy activities take place, such as swimming, walking, climbing and football.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people confirm that they are involved in planning, shopping and cooking meals. This evidences that they are given choices about the food they eat. A balanced diet is promoted, as the staff encourage young people to eat healthy foods and snacks. The staff are aware of individual children's likes and dislikes to ensure that they enjoy the food served. Matters arising from diversity are well managed. Therefore, the food served is both healthy and nutritious.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Good progress is being made by young people living at the home for more than 6 months in their education attendance and academic achievements. The staff have worked in a determined manner to ensure that appropriate placements are sourced quickly with educational providers. This has resulted in the young people's education being brought back on track to ensure that they can attend and achieve. Contact between the home and school is frequent and effective, enabling staff to support young people successfully with homework or personal targets. Staff say that the young people's attitude to school has changed as a result of their good experiences of learning, achieving and socialising.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people confirm that they are helped to keep in touch with people that are important to them. Young people said they make telephone calls to family and friends in private when they wish. They also have weekly visits to see their family and friends. This is supported by staff who encourage contact and facilitate visits very well. This is done safely and sensitively to protect young people's welfare.

p.6

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn life skills through taking part in the daily tasks around the home, such as shopping processing their laundry, budgeting their pocket money and tidying their own bedrooms. A young person said they can cook but prefer to bake. Younger children are more informally helped and supported in preparation for adulthood. Therefore, young people receive care which prepares them well for adulthood.

p.6

Quality of care

The quality of the care is good . Young people benefit from strong and positive relationships that they have with staff. This is achieved by a staff group who enthusiastically demonstrate their commitment to addressing young people’s care and safety needs through actively involving the young people. Young people and staff are clear about the boundaries in place.

p.7

Quality of care

A young person said that they 'get on with all staff and can talk to them about anything' and another said they 'got on well with most staff'. The staff team explain consistently how they support each young person with their behaviour and the strategies they use. This reflects each young person’s individual risk assessments, placement plan. Young people interact well with staff. They spoke freely and negotiated to make arrangements about leisure activities and to make private calls to friends.

p.8

Quality of care

The home has a number of care approaches to assist in obtaining the views and wishes of young people. Young people explain that they talk with staff daily and readily give them their views on the meals they wish to eat and activities. Staff listen to young people. Young people are able to go on social and leisure activities that they have chosen and to visit family and friends. A young person said staff have helped them to complete a questionnaire with their views and opinions about their education. Young people are been invited to attend their statutory review.

p.8

Quality of care

There are young people’s meetings organised on a regular basis. The minutes from these meetings record ideas and requests for activities, games and equipment for the home made by young people. The self-esteem and confidence of young people is well promoted and identified within their placement plans. Staff were heard praising young people for attending and positively being involved in their education. Therefore, the wishes, views and feelings of young people are strongly promoted.

p.8

Quality of care

Young people are well informed and can make complaints. The staff ensure that the young people know how to complain if they wish by explaining what to do. There is also good, clear information in the children’s guide about how to complain. The staff will assist young people in making complaints and they understand their role as advocates. Young people confirm that staff have explained to them that they can tell people outside of the home if they are unhappy. They have information and contact details of independent advocate service. There is a recording system, which details the action taken and the outcomes when a complaint is investigated. There have been no formal complaints received by the service since the last inspection.

p.8

Quality of care

Medication is recorded and stored securely and it is administered by trained staff. All staff have receive training in basic first aid to enable them to respond to minor medical occurrences where required. This ensures medical support can be provided to young people appropriately.

p.8

Quality of care

Young people have their needs assessed well, and good written placement plans outline how these needs will be met. Their placement plans are well recorded with good clarity to inform the staff what they need to do to meet the identified needs of individuals. The plans are built upon and written by the whole staff team within the team meeting. This assists greatly in pulling all the knowledge, received information and experience the staff team has of caring for the individual young person to inform further young people’s placement plans. This also assists in young people benefiting greatly from a consistent care approach. Therefore, staff demonstrate an excellent knowledge of each young person, which is reflected in their individual written placement plans.

p.8

Quality of care

The case file contains copies of the statutory review minutes and the recommendations made for the young person’s care. There is detailed evidence to show the progress the individual young person is making, through focus work sessions and two-weekly progress reports. The placement plans are reviewed frequently. Young people said they are doing well and have met their target goals. This has meant they have received numerous incentives and rewards for their success.

p.9

Quality of care

The home is a terraced house situated within a small town. On the ground floor there is a staff office, lounge, kitchen with dining area, and a porch. On the first floor are two young people's bedrooms, a staff bedroom, bathroom with toilet and a shower room with toilet. At the rear of the house is a yard, which is reached by a private road and provides an additional car parking space for the home.

p.9

Quality of care

The home is centrally placed for public transport, the library, shops and leisure facilities. A primary school and secondary school are within walking distance.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. Great importance is given to the safeguarding of young people. A young person said they feel safe living at the home.

p.9

Safeguarding children and young people

A culture of openness and trust is evident and brought about by the strong relationships staff have built with young people. This gives young people the confidence to engage with staff and enables them to discuss matters that affect their daily lives and safety concerns. This also allows the staff to work with young people to bring about a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

Where specific risks have been identified for a young person, the home has compiled detailed written risk assessments. These record what action staff should take to minimise the risk. These have been reviewed and updated at regular intervals. The service has forged strong proactive links with agencies that also work with the young people to address safety issues, for example the missing persons office and the community police. These measures enable staff to address individual safety issues and assist further in young people understanding how to keep safe.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people now rarely go missing and, if they do, they return quickly. There have been few issues relating to young people going missing from the home since the last inspection. Staff have worked well with young people and identified triggers and support strategies to reduce the number of these incidents. This has been addressed through the staff undertaking focus work with young people. This is used to assist young people in understanding the dangers they may find themselves in and reduce or prevent the young people going missing again. A young person said 'they have gone missing' and 'don't now'. Good protocols exist between the home and the police to help ensure young people's safe return in the event of a ‘missing from home’ episode.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

Staff demonstrate good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures to promote and protect young people’s safety. All staff have undertaken training in safeguarding children. The service has established safeguarding systems and procedures for staff to follow in the event of an allegation or suspicion of abuse.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people said they 'have not been given a sanction', for poor behaviour, that 'staff are fair' and that they receive rewards for positive behaviour. Staff have taken into account young people's diverse needs, considering their understanding of sanctions and only using where appropriate. Three sanctions have been given since the last inspection in January 2011. All the required information has been recorded and clear monitoring of this area has been undertaken by the manager.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

All staff have receive training in how to manage challenging behaviour and on how to restrain young people using safe techniques. The ethos of the home is to de-escalate any challenging behaviour. The staff verbalised how they support young people with their behaviour, giving a consistent approach. Appropriate records are kept.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a home that responds quickly to any incident of bullying. Young people said there is no bullying occurring in the home and said it is not allowed. Staff know that bullying is not tolerated and are aware of the action to take when it occurs. Information on bullying is given to young people on their admission to ensure they understand that any bullying will be stopped straight away and support given to those involved. Good staffing levels enable staff to monitor young people closely to prevent or eliminate such events.

p.10

Safeguarding children and young people

There is a careful selection and vetting process when recruiting staff to work at the home to ensure they are suitable. Appropriate checks have been undertaken as part of the recruitment process which, include Criminal Record Bureau disclosures and past employers references.

p.11

Safeguarding children and young people

There are good health and safety procedures in place. All relevant checks have been undertaken, including the testing of gas and electrical installations and equipment. Clear and accurate fire safety records are held.

p.11

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a positive environment, which is safe and secure. The furniture and fittings are of a good standard, clean and well maintained. Repairs are promptly addressed. The yard to the rear of the home has been made safe and enhanced with plants and a patio set, thus making the space more suitable for young people to use.

p.11

Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are good . An experienced manager supports staff to provide a stable home environment with good care outcomes for young people. A Statement of Purpose outlines the aims and objectives of the home .Young people receive information in the form of a welcome pack to inform them about the home, prior to or on arrival. They said staff go through this with them and they know the home’s rules.

p.11

Leadership and management

The staff team have built on their experience to provide consistent care to young people. This is enhanced by staff receiving a good quality induction and continued training in all areas relating to the young people they care for. Management support and supervision are described as 'very good' and 'open and approachable' by a staff team who clearly value the contributions of the manager.

p.12

Leadership and management

The manager has a thorough system in place to monitor, report and evaluate the administration systems of the home. Where weakness are identified they are promptly acted upon. The monthly monitoring undertaken by the Regulation 33 visitor covers the required areas set out in the regulation. However, there is not an up-to-date development plan, setting out any planned changes in the operation or resources of the service or confirming the continuation of the home's current operation and resource.

p.12

Leadership and management

Young people's case files are stored confidentially and are arranged in a manner that makes them useable by staff and yet accessible to young people. The young people said that they can have access to their records. These records and other written documentation are of a good standard. This facilitates positive communication with other professionals as well as ensuring young people have a permanent record of their history. Good cross-referencing of all documentation enables the management team and staff to evaluate and monitor young people's progress and development.

p.12

Leadership and management

Appropriate action has been taken to address the previous recommendations. All areas of the home are well decorated and maintained, in particular, the bathroom and shower rooms and rear outside space. All staff have completed or are enrolled on an appropriate course at level 3 in Caring for Children and Young People Workforce Diploma qualification. This helps to ensure that young people are receiving care from competent staff that are appropriately trained to meet their needs. Staff are particularly good at making sure that young people are looked after in a way that is particular to how they are and want to be. This is particularly evident around activities, safety, diet, health and education. Staff have received equality and diversity training. They demonstrate an understanding of the subject and how to promote this in practice.

p.12

Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

p.12