Children's Home run by My Choice Children’s Homes Limited in West Sussex

Unique reference number SC390785 Inspection date 21/10/2011 Inspector Keith Riley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 13/01/2011 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

A private company owns and operates this children's home. It is registered to accommodate three children of either sex who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Brief description of the service

Its aim, as described in the Statement of Purpose, is to provide a comfortable, safe, non-institutional environment for young people to begin to work towards a positive future.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be inadequate .

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Overall effectiveness

Some young people are struggling with their behaviour management and engagement with education or training. Others have positive placements and make a successful transition into semi-independent living.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from a staff team who are dedicated to meet their needs. However, there are shortfalls in staff training, experience and support. Individualised care plans are not always followed robustly and young people's welfare is not promoted to the highest level. The incidences of challenging behaviour requiring physical intervention are increasing. The previous positive relationships between individuals in the home are under threat.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff understand their responsibilities in responding to allegations or concerns in accordance with child protection procedures. However, there have been incidents whereby young people have been at risk due to poor levels of supervision. Significant events are not always notified accurately and promptly to parents and placing authorities. Routine monitoring visits required by regulation are not taking place. This means the quality of care is not independently reviewed on a regular basis.

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Overall effectiveness

Not all placements made are appropriate. Staff lack the supervision, training and experience to manage some of the presenting behaviours. The individual needs of some young people are not met and they are placed at risk.

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Overall effectiveness

Health and safety policies and procedures are in place but are not fully implemented in practice. Fire drills are not conducted regularly and there are some shortfalls in the management of medicines.

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Overall effectiveness

Some other recommendations are made to further improve the outcomes for young people.

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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 there are suitable arrangements for the recording, handling, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of any medicines received into the children's home (Regulation 21 (1)) 30/11/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the children's home is conducted to promote and make proper provision for the welfare of children accommodated there (Regulation 11 (1)(a)) 30/11/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that there is at all times a sufficient number of suitably qualified, competent and experienced persons working at the children's home (Regulation 25 (1)) 30/12/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that all persons employed by the registered person receive appropriate training and supervision, in particular training in advanced behaviour management techniques and medication administration (Regulation 27 (4)(a)) 30/12/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure visits under Regulation 33 (2) take place at least once a month (Regulation 33 (3)) 30/11/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that the persons working at the home and children accommodated there are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 32 (1)(e)) 30/11/2011

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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

 ensure there is a system in place to notify within 24 hours the persons and appropriate authorities of the occurrence of significant events in accordance with Regulation 30 and Schedule 5. The system includes what to do where the notifiable event arises at weekends (NMS 24.1)  ensure the home liaises with the child's independent reviewing officer about the progress of the child's readiness to move to any future accommodation where they would expect to take on greater responsibility and personal independence (NMS 12.3)  ensure the home provides an environment that is well maintained and decorated (NMS10.3)  ensure all children communicate their views on all aspects of their care and support. (NMS 1.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are satisfactory .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Some young people, whose previous educational placement has broken down, are receiving education in the home's own school. Other young people, above school leaving age, are not accessing education or training. Staff work hard to encourage young people to access employment. Young people are also encouraged, with varying degrees of success, to take part in a range of activities such as swimming, badminton and dog walking for a local sanctuary. However, some young people are not engaging positively with the support that is offered; this reduces their life chances.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have access to support and services to meet their health needs such as a looked after children's nurse or more specialist psychological help. However, they do not always attend appointments. This means that there is the potential that the young people may not enjoy good physical, emotional and psychological health.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Menus are varied with options for any specific dietary needs and fresh fruit is readily available. Young people choose an alternative meal if they do not want the first choice on the menu. Mealtimes are well ordered social occasions with young people engaging in discussion at the table; this helps them to improve their social skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have appropriate contact with people who are important to them. Staff fully support the arrangements that are in place. This means young people are able to maintain a sense of identity and important links as they move into adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged to be as independent as possible, for example, by using public transport. Due to the location of the home, staff drive the young person to the bus stop or train station to ensure they can access public transport. There are no formal pathway plans in place. Although the Registered Manager is in discussion with the placing social worker there is not regular contact with the independent reviewing officer about future arrangements. Young people are at risk of making limited progress in developing skills to prepare them for adult life.

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Quality of care

Placement plans give staff an adequate understanding of each young person's life, background and needs. However, these are not always followed. For example, close levels of supervision are not always provided when this has been assessed as being required. As a result there are occasions when the whereabouts of young people are unknown. When serious incidents occur and young people are at risk of physical and emotional harm or of committing an offence.

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Quality of care

Staff promote positive behaviour using incentive charts with some success. However, not all young people are appropriately placed in the home and do not respond due to their particular individual needs. This means that behaviour is challenging every day. There are multiple instances of inappropriate behaviour toward staff and property. Consequently, young people are now living in an environment in which their challenging behaviours are not appropriately managed.

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Quality of care

Young people are given some opportunities to express their views, wishes and feelings and to influence the running of the home. There is a complaints procedure, and individual key-work sessions and young people's meetings are held. Some changes are made in response to young people expressing their views, such as young people being enabled to personalise their bedrooms. However, young people's meetings and key-work sessions do not happen on a regular basis. The views of young people with communication difficulties are not adequately sought. Young people are at risk of their views not being heard.

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Quality of care

There is a clear procedure for dealing with medication and suitable systems to ensure it is administered safely. However, procedures to administer prescribed medication are not always followed robustly and expired medication is not disposed of in a sufficiently timely manner. Medication anomalies, such as missing signatures on medication administration forms, are not acted upon. Medical advice is not always sought; for example, to consider the effect when young people may be misusing substances while taking prescribed medication. Young people's health is therefore placed at risk.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from the organisation's own maintenance team who respond quickly to any repairs that are needed. However, the systems do not identify all necessary maintenance issues such as replacing loose roof tiles, cleaning gutters and replacing toilet seats. Young people are at risk of not living in a homely, well maintained environment.

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Quality of care

Some of the needs relating to the young people’s cultural background and personal identity are promoted to a satisfactory standard. For example, staff ensure they know how to meet the preferences of young people such as through purchasing specific foods.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

All members of staff receive training in child protection and safeguarding procedures. They know what to do and who to inform in the event that they have concerns about a young person's well-being. The Registered Manager ensures that all the relevant agencies are informed of any safeguarding issues. However, notifications of significant events are not always made within 24 hours. This means that strategies and plans can be delayed in the event of any concerns being identified.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are a number of times when young people go missing. There is effective liaison with the local police when this occurs. Staff respond appropriately using specific risk assessments that detail when to alert the police; this is dependent on the particular vulnerabilities of each young person. Incidents of this nature have significantly diminished.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are trained to employ distraction techniques and low-level intervention to de- escalate situations. However, some young people, who are inappropriately placed, present with behaviours that staff are not trained to manage. Recent negative behaviours are escalating and events have occurred which necessitate more physical intervention. Behaviour support plans have some omissions and risk assessments are not in place for some known behaviours. Although behaviour management strategies have previously been mainly successful, they are not effective in meeting the complex needs of the current group of residents. Relationships between young people living in the home and between young people and staff are deteriorating.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Appropriate risk assessments for the environment and individual activities are in place. These guide staff in how to keep young people as safe as possible. Fire detection equipment is checked regularly and there is a fire evacuation plan. However, fire drills are not occurring on a regular basis. This means that some young people have not experienced a trial evacuation; they are therefore at risk of not knowing the emergency escape plan. Faults with some fire doors were known to the management and were on a planned maintenance programme; these faults were corrected during the inspection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The organisation ensures that all prospective members of staff have the necessary checks completed before they commence work. Recruitment records contain all the information required. Young people are kept as safe as possible from being cared for by inappropriate adults.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are inadequate .

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose contains sufficient information to inform placing authorities of the service that is offered. Professionals are aware of what the home provides and describe previous positive placements. However, some current placements are inappropriate and the home cannot meet the individual needs of some young people who are admitted.

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Leadership and management

There are fluctuating staffing levels and some key meetings and training have been cancelled as a result. Young people complain about the changes in staff. The ongoing and consistent support for young people is at risk. New staff undertake the Children's Workforce Development Council's induction standards. However, there are insufficient staff with the minimum qualifications required. Staff are not fully trained in the advanced physical interventions that have been used in recent incidents. Young people are subject to a greater degree of risk on account of the home not having staff with sufficient experience or skills.

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Leadership and management

Staff do not receive regular supervision to support and care for young people with specific needs. Systems in place to provide staff with the support, guidance and monitoring they need, are not followed robustly. As a result, staff lack sufficient training and support to deliver the appropriate quality of care to meet young people’s complex needs.

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Leadership and management

Monitoring visits required by regulation are not being conducted. Management systems are ineffective and do not identify weaknesses that impact upon young people’s care. The management do not clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home to improve service delivery to young people. This means that young people’s welfare is at risk.

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Leadership and management

Records, giving an understanding of young people's lives, are kept up to date and stored securely. These are regularly reviewed and weekly updates given to the placing authority. However, some professionals say reports are not accurate including those made in respect to significant events. These events are not always notified to the placing authority or Ofsted within 24 hours as required by National Minimum Standard 24 and Regulation 30 The Children’s Homes Regulations (2001). Parents report that they are not notified of every significant event. Young people are at risk of decisions being made without the input of others.

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Leadership and management

There were no requirements or recommendations from the previous inspection.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is satisfactory .

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