Children's Home run by Keys Care Limited in Durham

Unique reference number SC423407 Inspection date 03/05/2012 Inspector Nicholas Murphy Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 28/11/2011 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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Brief description of the service

The home accommodates up to eight children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and is owned by a private company. It is dually registered with the Department for Education as an independent boarding school. An inspection of the school was carried out at the same time as this inspection and the report is available on the Ofsted website.

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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 Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides a good level of care for young people. Children are able to contribute very effectively to their care plans and gain a good understanding of the progress they make in their lives. Outcomes for all young people are very good. They do very well in education, are healthy, and take part in a range of activities in the local community.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is comfortable and well-appointed and the atmosphere created by the staff and young people is generally positive and cheerful. Staff are clearly committed to achieving the best outcomes for the young people, and the young people themselves know that the staff genuinely care for them.

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Overall effectiveness

The young people mostly get on well with each other. The disagreements that sometimes arise in group living are dealt with calmly and without fuss. Any more serious bullying is rare but when it does happen staff deal with it quickly and effectively. The home has worked in close liaison with other agencies to ensure that even highly vulnerable young people are kept safe from harm. Some young people who may be at particular risk have individual programmes of closer supervision. However, these are not unduly restrictive and do not impede young people’s ability to engage in community activities.

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Overall effectiveness

Management arrangements within the home are adequate. There are shortfalls in external and internal monitoring , the recording of restraint, the Statement of Purpose and the children’s guide. Additionally, young people’s access to a telephone is sometimes restricted and the quality of supervision provided to staff does not help them to develop better ways of working.

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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 with access to a telephone at reasonable times without reference to staff, unless there is a specific need to restrict this for the purpose of safeguarding any individual child and this is agreed by the placing authority (Regulation 15(4)) 15/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of restraint in a children's home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose, specifically that the nature of the restraint is described in plain language (Regulation 17B(3)(c)) 11/05/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that, as appears necessary, the person conducting the visits under this regulation, interviews with their consent and in private, the children's parents and relatives in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the home. (Regulation 33(4)(a)) 15/06/2012

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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 that the children’s guide contains a summary of the Statement of Purpose and details of how a child can contact their independent reviewing officer and an independent advocate (NMS 13.5)  ensure that staff are provided with regular supervision by appropriately qualified and experienced staff, specifically that supervision is child-centred, of good quality and promotes good practice (NMS 19.3)  ensure that reports reviewing the quality of care under Regulation 34 are supplied to Ofsted at six monthly intervals within 28 days of completion. (Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 5, statutory guidance, paragraph 3.14)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy good health and staff ensure that they access all the services they need to promote their well-being. All young people have made progress in reducing risky activities such as substance or alcohol abuse, some significantly so. Young people enjoy a good, nutritious diet with alternatives available if they do not like the main meal on offer.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have extremely good attendance at school and are generally positive and enthusiastic about their education. This is reflected in the significant progress that all young people have made in their educational attainments since they were placed in the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The young people live together as a cohesive group. Despite the odd argument they show affection for each other and enjoy doing things together. They cooperate with staff in carrying out both their personal household tasks and jobs to keep the home looking nice. This ensures that, even when young people are too young to pursue formal life skills programmes, they are encouraged to take some responsibility for their own care. In addition, young people are developing a sense of civic responsibility. For example, on the second day of the inspection all the young people were excitedly preparing for a sponsored walk to raise money for cancer research.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people retain a strong identity and allegiance with their community of origin, even those who have been placed at some distance from their home area. Staff enable young people to make sense of their background while also helping them to take pride in the progress they are making in their lives. One young person wrote in their feedback sheet to staff ‘Thank you guys, you helped me shape up, if you didn’t trust me I wouldn’t be where I am today.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff understand the importance of family contact and as a result go out of their way to facilitate and support it. Although young people value contact enormously, for some this can be difficult and distressing. When this is the case staff are sensitive to young people’s feelings and help them to deal with them constructively. The home agrees with placing authorities when restrictions on the young people’s use of the telephone need to be put in place to keep them safe. However, not all young people require this level of oversight, which means that their right to privacy and choice is unjustifiably infringed.

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Quality of care

The personal attributes of the staff and their skills in managing young people creates a relaxed but orderly atmosphere within the home. One social worker commented ‘All professionals who have visited have been very impressed with the staff as well as the facility. My young person’s behaviour has drastically improved. I remain very impressed with the staff’s professionalism and commitment to my young person.’ Staff practice is focused on the needs of young people and as a result what young people have to say is valued and where possible acted upon. One young person said ‘The staff are really nice and take good care of me’, and another remarked ‘Staff listen to me when I talk to them.’

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Quality of care

The home has developed a format for each young person’s care plan which is user friendly and accessible. This encourages the young person to contribute to it in a meaningful way. It also provides a record of the progress the young person has made in a way which is easily understood and thus promotes their self-esteem.

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Quality of care

The staff have enabled all young people to make significant improvements in their overall health. Staff ensure that all young people attend regular check-ups with dentists and opticians. In terms of maintaining their emotional health, young people can have access either to services within the community or a therapist employed by the provider. This gives young people a better choice of who they may want to talk to about issues in their lives. Young people also have a good understanding of healthy lifestyles and are well motivated to make positive choices in respect of diet and exercise.

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Quality of care

There is good communication between the home and the on-site education provision. This is helped by the fact that care staff sometimes support young people in the classroom. This consistency of approach contributes to the good attendance of young people and their work rate and level of attainment in the classroom. All young people have made significant progress educationally and take pride in their achievements. Staff take care to celebrate such achievement which reinforces to young people the importance of doing well educationally.

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Quality of care

The home has done very well in encouraging young people to commence and maintain membership of several local groups. These include Army Cadets, youth club, and a girls’ football team. In addition, the young people enjoy horse riding, swimming, and cinema outings, as well as a range of leisure pursuits within the home.

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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

Some young people came to the home with backgrounds characterised by extreme vulnerability. The home works directly with young people to help them understand the need to keep themselves safe and practical ways to achieve this. Each young person’s needs and abilities in this area are individually assessed and proportionate measures put in place to reduce risk. For example, a young person may be monitored at frequent intervals in order to assess their mood and provide support as necessary. In addition, close collaboration with placing authorities and other agencies has ensured that there is a collective and timely response to any incident.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has a particularly good relationship with the local police. As one social worker said ‘Staff work really well with police to keep young people safe.’ This, and close communication with placing social workers and the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), has contributed to the marked reduction in episodes of young people going missing. The links with the LSCB has enabled the manager to secure training for staff in sexual exploitation, which will further enhance their ability to promote the safety of young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Although the young people generally get on well with one another, there are very occasional incidents of bullying. However, young people are confident that in reporting any concern to staff it will be dealt with promptly and effectively. As a result, the young people say that they feel safe and that staff will look out for them. Young people also feel able to make complaints which, although rare, are dealt with by the manager quickly and to the satisfaction of the young person.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The staff encourage good behaviour by the use of praise and more tangible rewards. This approach helps young people to develop self-control and learn more constructive ways of dealing with stress. As a result, some young people who used to harm themselves have reduced this behaviour significantly. The quality of the relationships between staff and young people, and the consistency of the ethos within the home, means that staff use physical restraint only rarely. However, the record of restraint does not describe the method used in plain language. This means that the description of what happened may not be clear to anyone needing to have access to the record.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

Following the last inspection, the home has improved its recording of when young people go missing. This enables the manager to analyse and evaluate each incident more effectively and thus identify any actions which will further reduce such behaviour in future. The home is able to show how all the young people have made substantial improvements in most areas of their lives since coming here.

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Leadership and management

Although the management of the home is generally effective, there are several shortfalls. The information for young people in the children’s guide does not provide sufficient detail about the home. This means that young people coming to the home cannot know, for example, how many other young people live there. Additionally, there is no information on how young people can contact key people outside the home, such as their independent reviewing officer or an independent advocate. This restricts the number of people that young people can speak to if they have a concern.

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Leadership and management

Monthly monitoring of the home by the provider does not include consultation as appropriate with the parents of young people. Because of this, it is more difficult for the manager to be aware of shortfalls in practice and take remedial action. Additionally, although the home has a process in place to gain feedback from parents and social workers, the manager’s internal monitoring does not reflect the findings from this. This again means that the opportunity is lost to make use of the views of people who are significant in young people’s lives to improve practice. Finally, the provider has not supplied internal monitoring reports to Ofsted, which results in the inability of the regulating body to have proper oversight of the service.

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Leadership and management

The manager ensures that there are sufficient staff on duty at all times to meet the needs of young people and keep them safe. Staff have the appropriate qualifications and access to a range of training which is regularly updated. This means that staff have the right skills to provide effective support to young people and ensure that their welfare is promoted. Staff receive regular support from managers through a process of formal supervision. However, records indicate that supervision sessions are sometimes superficial, not focused on the young people’s needs, and do not encourage reflective practice. As a result, staff are not fully equipped to deal with the complex issues associated with looking after young people effectively.

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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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