Children's Home run by The Drive Care Homes Ltd in Kent

Unique reference number SC063689 Inspection date 30/05/2012 Inspector Caroline Wilson Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/02/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The children’s home is registered to provide care for up to six children, aged between 10 and 17 years, who have learning and/or physical disabilities.

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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

Young people make good progress in this home and thrive as a result of the consistent, supportive and nurturing environment. Young people receive well planned and individualised care and their views are central to all aspects of the operation of the home. They are regularly consulted and their views contribute to their care.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff are committed to providing high quality care and this promotes positive outcomes for young people. Staff have high aspirations for young people and this contributes to young people's positive progress, particularly with regards to behavioural management and having a positive self-view. Young people feel safe and are safe.

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Overall effectiveness

There is a full, experienced and permanent staff team and this promotes stability for young people. There is strong management, a commitment to providing good quality care and to continuous improvement. Quality assurance is rigorous, which enables managers and staff to have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home.

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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 have made significant progress in all areas of their care. Young people's diverse needs are met, including their race, disability and gender. They enjoy a healthy diet which includes food specific to their individual culture. They also use hair and skin care products specific to their needs. This helps young people to gain a sense of pride in their own identity and heritage. Young people attend church on a regular basis and enjoy reading religious literature that reinforces their faith. Young people have photo albums which track activities in which they have participated since their stay. Consequently, they have an understanding of their lives and the progress that they have made.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's specific health needs are met and they have access to services that they require. They engage with child and adolescent mental health services and other relevant health care provision, which promotes their good mental health and physical health.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are protected by the safe administration of medication. Appropriate action is taken to ensure that they cannot have unauthorised access to medication and that it is administered only as prescribed.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have support with communication, which enables them to make their wishes and feelings known effectively. They can express their views and choices about their daily lives and the plans for their care. Their views are continually sought during regular key-work sessions. This supports continual improvements in their quality of care.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making good educational progress. They complete homework with the support of staff, which has helped them to meet their full educational potential. For example, some young people have made improvements in their fine motor skills so that they can develop their writing skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people participate in a number of leisure activities which promotes their inclusion within the local community. They regularly walk in the local park, go swimming which has a positive impact on their physical health.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have a good understanding of the behaviours expected of them. Young people, depending on their age and ability, take part in undertaking everyday activities, such as helping prepare meals or assisting with everyday chores. This helps to be involved in taking acceptable risks and to develop into well rounded and confident adults.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have also successfully progressed in a number of personal care tasks which promote their independence. This includes areas such as toileting and other tasks that are specific to their gender.

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Quality of care

Behaviour management strategies are good. Staff use verbal prompts as well as images to communicate with young people so that they know what behaviours are expected from them. For instance, when to wake up and what activities have been planned for the day. Staff work alongside other agencies such as schools and share behaviour management strategies. There is excellent communication between the staff team and other agencies, which ensure that consistent boundaries are set. This has lead to a reduction of negative behaviours, as staff have a clear understanding of how to intervene constructively with young people and provide the right kind of support to develop positive behaviour. As a consequence, restraints are kept to a minimum and are only used in appropriate circumstances.

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Quality of care

Staff are good at ensuring that young people have a say about the way that the home is run and use relevant communication aids to facilitate this. Regular key-work sessions are held, which give young people the opportunity to shape the routine of the home in which they live. For example, they can choose what food they like to eat and which activities they would like.

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Quality of care

Staff help young people with information on how to make a complaint, including a list of external agencies; for example, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Childline. Staff advocate for young people to ensure that their needs are met. They make contact with other agencies, such as education and health professionals to ensure that young people receive good outcomes in these areas. Staff attend relevant meetings with schools and work constructively with them in order to overcome any difficulties that prevent young people from receiving good quality education.

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Quality of care

Staff understand their responsibilities to help young people progress within the educational system. They have the skills to support young people with this. For example, they help young people creatively to develop their literacy and numeracy skills through art work. They also help young people to learn essential life-skills by including them in participating in everyday tasks, such as cleaning and shopping.

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Quality of care

Staff are committed to meeting young people's diverse needs. They work in partnership with parents and other relevant external agencies to request external advice and support. This helps the staff to understand the full range of young people's identity needs and respond to these in the most appropriate way. For instance, they invited a parent to the home to get advice on recipes that were specific to an individual young person's culture. This helped the young person to enjoy food with which they are familiar.

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Quality of care

Staff meet young people's religious needs and support them to attend services, receive instruction and observe any requirement of their religious persuasion, for instance by accessing relevant religious literature. Family members are highly complimentary of the individualised care that is provided to young people. One stated, 'staff look after my child with the same care that I would'.

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Quality of care

Staff encourage with young people to have regular contact with their families and other important people in their lives. This promotes positive relationships with young people and significant others, as well as building good relationships between staff and family members so that they can work together to promote and safeguard the welfare of young people. Any concerns that family members and others may have, can easily be resolved through conversation. This is also beneficial for young people as this sustains and reinforces links with their birth family and wider support networks.

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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 and feel safe. Staff are aware of their responsibilities for safeguarding young people. They keep up-to-date with training so that they are knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms of abuse. Staff are vigilant regarding of the vulnerability of young people with disabilities, especially those who do not have sufficient verbal skills. Staff look out for non-verbal clues that may indicate that a young person that may be at risk, including changes to their affect, signs of bruising, or young people's reluctance being around certain members of staff. Any suspicions are brought to the attention of the designated child protection officer and a referral is made where relevant, in order to ensure that young people's welfare is promoted.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected by processes for when they go missing. Robust risk assessments are in place, which identify the risks of young people whilst they are in and out of the home. These systems are effective, as no young people have recently gone missing. There is a high level of staffing, which ensures that young people are consistently supervised.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Robust recruitment systems are in place to ensure that only staff who are safe to work with young people are appointed. Prospective members of staff undertake an additional interview with the manager of the home to ascertain whether they have the right attributes to care for young people safely. This is in addition to the required recruitment checks.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All health and safety inspections are undertaken at appropriate intervals. This keeps the environment physically safe and secure and takes into account the needs and characteristics of the young people being cared for.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

The management of the home is strong. The registered manager successfully motivates staff to ensure that all young people are provided with the high quality care that they need. He constantly monitors the welfare of young people through observation, engagement of staff and listening and responding to their views.

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Leadership and management

The registered manager has highly effective quality assurance systems in place. These monitor and review the home's care practices to identify any themes and patterns that may be impacting on young people's care. Regulation 33 and 34 monitoring, undertaken by the Registered Manager and an independent person, also keep staff up-to-date about the strengths and weakness of the home. This enables managers and staff to build on strengths or take appropriate action, where relevant. The outcomes of monitoring processes are discussed in team meetings. This helps the staff to be aware of their group and individual responsibilities to provide good childcare and outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management

Staff have excellent knowledge and skills. They are committed to meeting the needs of young people to ensure that they grow up to receive their full potential. Staff treat each young person as an individual and are successful in providing them with personal support that is tailored to meet these needs, taking into account each young person's wishes and feelings.

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Leadership and management

Staff receive regular training and supervision that enables them consistently to safeguard and promote the welfare of young people. Staff complete questionnaires following training, to ensure that they have understood what they have learned. Staff have to repeat the training if they have not evidenced sufficient understanding. One member of staff stated that there is an expectation that they transfer the methods of working that they learnt in order to promote young people's welfare.

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Leadership and management

The home evidences an excellent capacity for continued improvement. Frequent discussions take place with staff with regard to young people's progress and other practice issues, during supervision and team meetings. Supervision sessions take place at intervals that are in accordance with national minimum standards in order that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to meet the needs of young people. Supervision is of good quality and enables staff to respond well to the needs of young people and highlights any developmental needs that they may have.

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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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