Children's Home run by Channels and Choices Limited in Kent

Unique reference number SC408584 Inspection date 15/05/2012 Inspector Mark Blesky Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/03/2012 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 is registered to provide care to up the three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. Education in line with the national curriculum is available on site although an external school is maintained by the home. The home is run by a partnership company.

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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

This home provides good overall care with some adequate areas of practice in leadership and management. An acting manager has been in post since March 2012. An application by the acting manager has not yet been submitted to Ofsted for registration.

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Overall effectiveness

Some good examples of leadership are evidenced in a number of areas, however there are other areas where management and specifically the monitoring of the quality of care, is not effective. This has resulted in some systems related to the quality of care being less robust. However, the support from the staff and the many good care practices have minimised the impact on the young people of this less effective management.

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Overall effectiveness

Care practices are generally good and young people are well looked after. Management of the staff and the day-to-day running of the home are also generally managed well. However, formal systems of supervision and systems that support quality assurance are weaker and incompatible with the many examples of good practice. It is acknowledged that areas of weakness are in the main related to failures in systems rather than failures to maintain good day to day care.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are clearly happy, motivated and well looked after. They are confident; they understand their rights and also their responsibilities. The young people have made good progress since they have been in the home and behaviour control is balanced, insightful and generally effective. Care planning and placement planning is highly individualised and this is one of many areas where young people's individuality and diversity is promoted. Relationships are warm, respectful and caring and staff clearly work hard to help young people achieve and reach their goals.

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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

17B (2001) ensure that the registered person must within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, discipline or restraint in a children’s home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose which shall include details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure (Regulation 17B (3) (b)) 30/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person maintains in the children's home the records specified in Schedule 4 and ensure that they are kept up to date (Regulation 29 (1)) 30/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person shall (a) keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the statement of purpose and the children's guide; (b) notify HMCI of any such revision within 28 days (Regulation 5 (a) (b)) 30/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person shall establish and maintain a system monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 for improving the quality of care provided and for consultation with children accommodated in the home, their parents and placing authorities and shall supply this to HMCI at appropriate intervals (Regulation 34 (1) (a) (b) Regulation 34 (3)) 30/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment (Regulation 32 (1) (a)) 30/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the registered person maintains in respect of each child who is accommodated in a children's home a record in permanent form which includes the information, documents and records specified in Schedule 3 relating to that child. (Regulation 28 (1)) 30/06/2012

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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 staff have up-to-date information about each child’s educational progress and school attendance record (NMS 8.7)  ensure that the staff have received sufficient training on health and hygiene issues and first aid with particular emphasis on health promotion and communicable diseases (NMS 6.7)  ensure that the provider’s child protection procedures are submitted for consideration and comment to the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) and to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Child Protection (NMS 20.4)  ensure all staff have access to support and advice, and are provided with regular supervision by appropriately qualified and experienced staff. (NMS 19.4)

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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 are well supported by staff and gain a positive self-view and have the ability to form and sustain attachments. Staff understand the needs of the young people and care planning is highly individualised. Young people are helped to understand their lives their rights and the choices that they can make. Staff act as good advocates for the young people and plan and arrange their care and support effectively.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The young people's health needs are met and staff understand how individual and diverse lifestyles impact on young people’s healthcare. Much care and attention is given to support healthy diets and healthy eating.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's education is well planned and provided and the staff ensure young people are supported to attend regularly. Young people are benefiting from consistent support at school. In addition the staff complement young people's learning by supporting them with literacy and numeracy skills within the home. Young people are encouraged to engage in community activities and the staff integrate them into hobbies and clubs where they may meet other young people. As a result young people have gained confidence and found new friends. Young people say that they really enjoy activities and that the staff will let them partake in almost any reasonable activity.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff promote contact and opportunities for young people to spend time with their friends and family. Young people discuss contact with the staff and any worries and this supports harmonious contact that they enjoy. Young people are helped to consider the emotions around contact and supported to develop coping mechanisms when contact may be more eventful. Young people are more confident as a result and manage contact more effectively.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn and develop life skills through the support and encouragement from the staff. All young people benefit from well managed placement plans and assessment of their current and future needs. Staff use their knowledge and understanding of the young people to develop and plan programmes to learn life skills and prepare for independence.

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Quality of care

Young people are well supported by staff that understand their needs and care about them. Relationships between staff and the young people are warm and respectful and young people say that staff respect them. The supportive relationships help the young people to grow, feel confident and gain trust.

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Quality of care

Young people regularly meet formally with the staff and are able to influence the running of the home. Discussions between young people and staff are held and the young people’s views are canvassed and acted upon. Where young people are unable to have their suggestions fulfilled, staff ensure that they understand the reasons for this. To further engage young people in consultation the staff encourage the young people to chair the meetings and present topics ranging from house rules to activities. This process promotes young people's participation and they say that they feel that their views are important and valued. Young people say that they are able to choose from a multitude of activities and they clearly enjoy these pursuits. Staff consider and try to promote healthy activities that also support young people's choices.

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Quality of care

Complaints are infrequent in the home and the staff and young people say that this is because most matters are addressed within everyday contact with one another. Young people are aware of how to complain and the procedures in the home to support this. If a complaint is made young people are kept abreast of the matter until it is concluded.

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Quality of care

Staff understand the importance of young people feeling able to complain and also the need to maintain robust and effective systems. Young people say that staff act promptly to address any complaint or representation and they have confidence in the complaint systems.

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Quality of care

Young people are supported by a well-managed care planning process which starts from the local authorities care plan. Placement plans are highly individual, clearly and comprehensively identifying key objectives and goals for each young person. Young people benefit from an additional plan called a therapeutic plan. This plan breaks down a young person’s needs across a 24 hour span, identifying the more subtle and diverse needs of the young person.

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Quality of care

Planning provides very good opportunities for both the staff and young people to achieve agreed goals and young people have clearly benefitted and developed from this process. It was however noted that whilst needs relating to young people’s cultural background and personal identity are established, the religious identities of some young people were somewhat confused and unclear.

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Quality of care

The staff team meet regularly and this enables them to discuss, as a group, the needs of the young people. Areas are discussed where extra support maybe needed for the young people’s day-to-day development. Close working by the staff group has enabled them to maintain and deliver consistent care and support.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from well-planned healthcare which maintains their routine healthcare needs and also any more specialist support. All young people understand the importance of maintaining health and making choices that support healthy lifestyles. Healthy foods and meal are enjoyed and the home takes great care to ensure that young people have choice and a balanced diet. All meals are planned using a dietician who ensures that young people’s choices complement nutritional guidelines. Staff clearly demonstrate the care and importance that is placed in planning and providing wholesome and nutritious meals.

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Quality of care

It was noted that training and guidance for staff in promoting healthy lifestyles is absent. It was unclear if, as a result, young people are being given consistent messages in their day-to-day contact with the staff. The acting manager did confirm that guidance through staff meetings is planned and aims to support this area.

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Quality of care

Young people's education is promoted by the home and staff support young people with their education by preparing them for school and liaising and meeting with the school staff. The home has planned and developed an education resource in order that young people can be supported to progress with their education. The acting manager has established support in the home for the young people with activities that strengthen numeracy and literacy skills. However, it was noted that the home staff were unable to clarify the broad areas where the young people had developed their learning regarding numeracy and literacy at school. This did not provide clear understanding for the staff where progress had been made.

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Quality of care

The home is very well maintained with a prompt an effective maintenance team; this provides a comfortable home for young people. Young people demonstrate pride in their home and it is clear that the staff work hard to maintain this pleasant home. Children say that they think the home is very comfortable and that their bedrooms are great.

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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 are kept safe and they say that they feel safe. Young people have trust and respect for the staff and understand their rights to be kept safe from harm. To ensure young people stay safe the home maintains safeguarding procedures to be followed in the event of any allegations or suspicions of abuse. Staff are trained to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and this enables them to protect the young people effectively.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Whilst the home maintains internal procedures, it was noted that the home did not have a copy of the local authorities safeguarding procedures. In addition the home’s procedures had not been shared with the local authority for consideration and comment in accordance with the National Minimum Standards. Young people rarely go missing, but when they do they are supported and protected by prompt actions to report, search and recover them. Young people are protected by effective support and staff in most cases pre-empt behaviour and situations that may have lead young people to have gone missing. Young people are supported by anti-bullying procedures and kept safe from intimidation. Young people are motivated and confident to report any episodes of bullying and understand their rights to be kept safe. Bullying is therefore rare in this home and quickly addressed when it occurs.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Effective behaviour control supports young people to behave positively and staff use supportive rather than punitive measures of control.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are encouraged to reflect of how their behaviour impacts on others and take responsibility for their actions. This encourages young people to make informed choices and behaviour improves as a result. If young people act in a manner that places themselves or others at risk of harm, the staff deploy physical intervention as a last resort. Young people are protected by these interventions and are kept safe from harm. All staff are provided with training to ensure that physical interventions are appropriate and used in a manner to keep young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

It was noted that some records that are being used to record physical interventions were unclear in some areas. In these records there was a lack of evidence to provide circumstances of the escalation of events leading to the restraint.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are kept safe by robust recruitment and employment procedures and all staff undergo both statutory and reference checks. No staff member begins employment in the home or has access to the young people until checks are complete to ensure they are suitable.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Visitors to the home are monitored and records are kept in many cases. However, during the visit it was noted that several people, including maintenance staff that work in the company, rather than the home, were not recorded in the home’s visitor record documents. The records were not being maintained in a manner to determine clearly who may have been in the home at any given point.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are kept safe by staff that receive training in matters of safeguarding and protecting children. Risk assessments and health and safety procedures consider where young people may be at the highest level of risk and staff act to minimise this. Risk assessments are typically thorough, insightful and highly individualised, reflecting the more diverse needs and personalities of the young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The safeguarding process is complemented by detailed profiles of the young people which identify how behaviour may impact on less obvious environmental risk factors. Although the home maintains a safeguarding procedure this has not been submitted to the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) or to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for consideration and comment. In addition the local authorities safeguarding procedures were not available in the home for staff reference.

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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

The home has been managed since March 2012, by an acting manager who is not registered. Application is commencing, but this has not been submitted to Ofsted. Management however is effective in many areas and staff know who they are accountable to and they receive support. Management systems however are less effective and there is evidence that weaknesses are present in management systems.

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Leadership and management

There have been no complaints since the last inspection and the complaints procedures are well managed and effective. Young people trust the complaints system and know how to use it. Young people say that they do not have to make formal complaint in most cases, as staff are prompt to address any concerns that they have. Young people are motivated and confident to use this system and raise any matter that they wish.

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Leadership and management

The home typically strives towards continuing improvement and staff have a clear vision of good practice.

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Leadership and management

Two requirements were made at the last inspection one related to the use of electronic surveillance and the other to matter of fire safety. Both matters have been addressed, however work relating to fire safety has been more extensive and understandably some work is awaiting completion. It is acknowledged that the work undertaken could not be completed within the previous timescale. A requirement is therefore made to enable compliance within an appropriate timescale.

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Leadership and management

To ensure young people benefit from good care, services and support, the home maintains and regularly reviews the Statement of Purpose. This clear Statement of Purpose is available to and understood by staff and children and reflected in policies, procedures and guidance. It is available to the responsible authority and any parent or person with parental responsibility.

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Leadership and management

It was noted that the home’s Statement of Purpose had been reviewed in February 2012 and this has not been submitted to Ofsted in accordance with regulations. A well written and child friendly children's guide is also provided to all the young people and this enables them to understand how their needs will be met and the expectations placed upon them. Young people’s needs are clearly put first within this publication and staff will sit and read and discuss any matters to ensure they understand the guide.

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Leadership and management

There are ample staff that are well trained to ensure young people are appropriately supervised and supported. Training for staff is planned both to meet the day-to-day needs of the young people and specialist training is available to meet the more diverse needs. It was noted that some supervision records did not evidence a clear process of support or development and evaluation. Records detail statements of the supervisee, but lacked evidence of a supervisory process.

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Leadership and management

The home has made good links with external professionals and these provide consultation for the staff and individual support for the young people. The home uses the services of a therapist and social workers have commented on the benefit of this.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from living in a home that is well maintained throughout and presents as a very pleasant family home. Young people say how much they value this and the staff that look after them. Two young people spoken to said they could think of nothing that they did not like about the home.

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Leadership and management

A social worker spoken to commented on the great progress that had been made for one young person and how pleased she was with the home’s care. Staff observed and spoken to during the inspection presented as warm, caring and focussed on putting the young people's needs first.

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Leadership and management

Records are typically well maintained, legible and offer each young person an understanding of their life and plans for the future. Young people's records are kept safely and securely and staff understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality.

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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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